Three Days (3)
by Deliverer
Summary: Three days. That is the amount of time Elsa has left after she is betrayed to Weselton by Hans; but since when has the prince done anything without deeper motive? Is it treachery if she hoped for it? A plan to mend political ties turns into a decades old mystery the Duke wants closed. Then things get dangerous. Time is running short for them all. Sequel to 'Scourge of the Seas'.
1. A Series of Letters

**Angel in the Snow, Demon in the Shadows 3: Three Days**

(A/N: And I'm back with the third installment of my Frozen series. I actually am posting this way sooner than I'd expected to, I'd hardly even started it by the time I finished the last one, and then I got on a role and have kind of been writing steady since, so I feel comfortable enough to start posting this story now. As usual, it starts out with scene and situation building and so at times will be pretty slow, but by the time the fourth or fifth chapter rolls around, we should be into the main body of the plot. As always, I'm not sure this story will be as good as the last two were, but then I didn't think the second one would be as good as others thought it was either. Now, this chapter starts out with a slightly different format than the rest of them in that it's mostly letters, showcasing a bit of the back and forth between Hans and Elsa and the developing of their correspondence. Letters are pretty prominent for the first three or four, maybe five, chapters, but peter out afterwards. This chapter in particular is mostly letters. This story isn't as Princes of the Southern Isles focused as the last ones were, but it does feature Franz Neb a lot. He plays a large role in it as I go into his character and past a bit, and the brothers are mentioned pretty often. Jürgen Meilic has a silent but noteworthy role in the first little bit, and Prince Eric of _The Little Mermaid_ will have a scene as well. I hope you enjoy.)

A Series of Letters

Cannon and rifle fire rang through the night. The fleets collided violently on the already stormy sea. Screams of death and pain could be heard from all angles, and screams of fear. Cries for mercy and shouted, frantic prayers echoed loudly as man after man fell in the battle on sea. Bodies could be seen tumbling overboard, killed or sent over by comrades who had no choice but to drop them or risk tripping over the remains and dooming themselves.

Water from the torrential rain ran in rivulets down the prince's face. The downpour soaked him to the bone and blinded him, as streams ran steadily into his eyes. In annoyance he wiped the rain away and surveyed the scene grimly, arms folded. "Prince Hans, we're getting nowhere! Not on either side! There has been too much blood shed. We must retreat! We cannot stand to them!"

"We're not falling to them either," Hans answered. "It's a waiting game, a test of endurance. I intend to win it."

"My lord, please! My two brothers are on that ship over there! The one under heavy siege. I promised our mother I would get us all back alive!" the sailor begged.

"Then let it be a lesson to you never to make a promise you can't keep," Hans coldly answered, though he turned to at least glance at the besieged ship.

"So then you leave them to die?!" the man demanded.

"Welcome to war," Hans answered with a scoff.

"You are no better than your father was!" the man shouted, tone anguished.

Hans viciously spun, striking him viciously across the face and sending him to the ground. He scowled dangerously at the man, eyes flashing. The sailor could have sworn he would die there and then. Not that at this point he cared. He could not and would not return to his mother without his brothers at his side. If they died, he died also. All at once, though, the prince seemed to get a hold of himself and looked towards the besieged ship again. Anger seemed to melt away into a sort of grim and bitter melancholy. "Sailor, why did you join my crew when your brothers were on the other?" Hans questioned after a moment.

"Does it matter?" the sailor asked in a broken whisper.

"No… Not to you. Not to this situation. Not to anyone but me," Hans answered.

The sailor was quiet. "I joined you because I believed you would save us; and they didn't," the man answered.

Hans felt an uncomfortable twisting in his gut. He hated that feeling, he decided. He hated it with a passion. He eyed the ship silently. "Turn the ship! Sail to defend the besieged one! They're trying to cut it off from the fleet!" he finally shouted out to his crew. They looked ready to protest, but they knew better. Reluctantly they did so, turning the ship sharply and cutting across the water to the vessel that was being herded away from the others and attacked, now on three sides. Other ships of the Southern Isles fleet, noticing the change in tactic, immediately went on the defensive, sailing to help the one in trouble. It was apparent they would be too late to save it from going down, but at least some of the men could still be rescued. Hans turned to the sailor. "You realize it was doomed long before you came to me, right?"

"I know… I also knew you were the last hope of getting anyone from it out alive," the sailor answered. "Thank you, your Highness," he added, kneeling in front of Hans.

"Get up. On the seas, in war, there's no need for formality, nor time for it. I'm not a prince here. I'm just a man." Albeit one of high rank, given his position as Admiral, but specifics and all that. He'd never cared for them.

Frozen

The ships clashed with Norway's fleets, and artillery rang out through the night. For hours more it continued. The doomed ship steadily sank, and though they tried frantically to save the men aboard, it was not to be. In the end, only five were pulled from the water alive. To the relief of the sailor, two of them were his brothers. How he had been so lucky he didn't know, nor did he want to fathom. It was nothing short of a miracle. He fell upon them, holding them tightly.

"Admiral Westergaard, we cannot drive away Norway's fleets!" a man called to Hans. "They will not be goaded into fleeing!"

Hans looked at the situation gravely. With one ship down, they were at even more of a disadvantage than they had been before. He cursed under his breath, frantically thinking of a way out. Just then canon fire rang out from the distance. All eyes turned. Calls of 'Pirates' was heard. Hans eyed the coming ships and smirked. Jürgen Meilic had come. He could have thanked the gods. He hadn't believed the pigeon was able to reach his brother. Jürgen's fleets crossed the water swiftly, cutting Norway's in half and immediately attacking before the Norse fleet even could process another enemy was in the battle. Their slower ships stood no chance against the sneak attack, and Hans began calling orders to his own ships to bring things around. Immediately they did so and soon enough victory was in sight. Norway's fleets withdrew one by one, pursued by the two princes and their naval force. Hans's ship came alongside Jürgen's. Hans looked over at his sibling and met Meilic's eyes. Meilic nodded to his brother. Hans nodded back, a silent thanks. Both princes focused on the fleeing ships once more. Soon they were gone, and Hans breathed a heavy sigh. He'd lost track of how long this battle had gone on. Three days, he believed. He hadn't slept for any of those days. He turned to address the sailors.

"Return to the Southern Isles or a near port! We all deserve a rest after this!" he called to his men. They cheered in agreement and obeyed the order as Hans went into his cabin. He felt safe doing so now, knowing his brother was looking out for them. It was a feeling he wasn't accustomed to, feeling safe with the eyes of a brother on him. Usually it was doom he felt, but in this case… In this case he couldn't help but feel it was anything but. At least this time.

Frozen

 _Queen Elsa of Arendelle:_

 _It has been some time since our last correspondence. I'm afraid I've been terribly negligent in keeping you informed as to the status of this war we find ourselves in, so I shall remedy that now._

 _The fighting started some months ago. Moren sent battalions into Denmark and Eric's kingdom both, as well as naval fleets, to aid in the fighting. We've held our own in those places, though not without cost. It's too early to tell numbers and casualties. It has, after all, only been a few months._

 _The battle on the sea has not been an easy one. We underestimated the strength of Norway's fleets, and their skill. Until only recently, it has been at a stalemate. It perhaps would have stayed that way had not Jürgen Meilic and I come together and grouped up on them. Weselton's fleets do not pose as great a threat as Norway's, and their fighting force is nothing we cannot handle, so we deemed it alright to leave them for the time and focus attention on Norway. With me and my brother working in unison, Norway's fleets were soon driven back. It has earned my men and I some breathing room. Jürgen Meilic returns to finish his skirmish with Weselton, soon. Perhaps then he too will have time to restock and recuperate._

 _We came into a port, today. The men have gone out to the taverns—read brothels—to drink and mingle, to use polite terms, with the women. Frankly, it is embarrassing to hear their tales when they come back, and the boasts of their exploits. The stories they tell and the detail with which they tell them is enough to make me feel ill. Disgusting men. The greatest embarrassment of all is that most are married. I have half a mind to write to their wives at home, but then Franz threatened me with dire circumstances if I ever did so, and so I suppose they will never get to know of their husbands' lecherous transgressions, as much as I feel they deserve to. I never knew my men were so depraved. It's funny really, in a sadly pathetic sort of way._

 _Apart from that, there is little else to tell. I trust Arendelle is faring well and that no threat from Weselton has come. Otherwise I would have heard of it, I suspect._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Prince Hans of the Southern Isles_

Frozen

Elsa stood in the library by the window, reading through the letter and holding her chin ponderously as she took in the words. Reaching the part about the tavern and the men, she smirked and chuckled a little, shaking her head. At least it was something of a respite from the gravity of all the rest of it. Finishing the letter she moved to a desk and sat, picking up a quill.

 _Prince Hans of the Southern Isles:_

 _I pray the death toll has not been great, though I am of the opinion one life lost is too many in this cursed war. It never should have come to this. I can't help but feel partially responsible. At least for Weselton's involvement in it. My best wishes to Jürgen. May his campaign against them go well._

 _As to the taverns and your men, I do tend to agree their wives have every right to know, but I suppose if Franz has threatened you with grievous harm, there isn't much to be done for it. Now Hans, a_ _re you really telling me that you've never put out to shore and gone to such places as that?_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Queen Elsa of Arendelle_

Frozen

Hans frowned in vague annoyance at the insinuation in the latter part of her letter. She had probably written it to be teasing, but he was indignant nonetheless. As if he could be bothered with that kind of nonsense. He harrumphed, rolling his eyes, but smirked soon after, dryly chuckling. Her wit was amusing, admittedly. He honestly appreciated it. It was a welcome respite from all the carnage and war going on around him. Picking up a quill, he moved to the desk in his room in the castle. Thinking a moment, his smirk fell to a more serious and grave look. He sighed deeply then began to write.

 _Queen Elsa:_

 _I find myself reluctantly agreeing. One life lost was too many. It will please you to know that there was, indeed, not as much loss of life as I feared there would be. There were still too many taken, though. An entire ship and crew was lost. We found only five of the men alive. Two later died of hypothermia. They, at least, were able to dictate last letters to their wives and children. It was one of the saddest sights I have ever born witness to. Fathers should not be made to go to war, in my opinion; though, I suppose if it is their choice I can hardly stop them._

 _Do not think, Your Majesty, that Weselton's involvement was your responsibility alone. Moren never got along with the weasel that is the Duke._

 _There is another threat approaching us. It promises to be an ugly battle, and so Franz will accompany me to sea this time, as a backup of sorts. I will not get away unscathed, I fear. Many lives will be lost. I dread having to write further letters of condolence. It is one of the most unpleasant tasks I could ever imagine, so let the men have their fun. It's a pity their time will not be spent with those they love._

 _For your information, I have **not** gone to such places as taverns and brothels. At least not on my own. I have accompanied Franz, now and again, but have never joined him with intent to partake in the depraved past times offered there. To speak to the women, yes, to sleep with them, no. I find that speaking to someone is much more intellectually stimulating and beneficial anyway. To both parties involved. In fact, once my habit of simply speaking prompted a young lass to quit that lifestyle, much to my personal pride. I have no interest in such things as intimacy with them—though Franz is of a certain less-than-savory opinion as to why I can handle being in such places without acting on desires; an opinion I will not share for the depravity and impropriety of it—nor do I have the time for that kind of nonsense. A few moments of temporary pleasure, then never seeing the person again, is unfulfilling and frankly depressing. I will wait for marriage, thank you very much. Perish forbid it should ever come to that. I have little use for marriage either._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Prince Hans_

…

 _Prince Hans:_

 _By the time you receive this, the battle will have been fought, I suspect, or will be underway, and so I suppose there is no reason for me to say this, as it will arrive too late. I will say it anyway. I wish you luck in the task, and hope there will not be as great a loss of life as you fear. I hope, also, for the sakes of your brothers, that you will make it through alive so that the letter of condolence written is not to them. Live on. Do not fall in this fight._

 _I have to admit, I didn't honestly think you a man with character enough to be the sort for saving yourself. You have more honor, at least in that matter, than I gave you credit for. Of course then again, thinking about it now, I couldn't see you doing anything else_ _ **but**_ _that. It is admirable._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Queen Elsa_

…

 _Queen Elsa:_

 _Thank you for your well wishes, though they did indeed come late. Fortunately, there was not as much bloodshed as there could have been. Prince Eric, who also is a naval officer, arrived to help us in the skirmish. He has a surprising skill in commanding naval fleets when the pressure is on, it seems. One I never expected of him. Then again, I've never really known him well. He was a welcome aid, given Jürgen Meilic couldn't be there this time. Meilic is still in battle with Weselton. They are a weak fleet, of that there is no doubt, but they are determined unlike anything I expected from a kingdom under the Duke._

 _I confess, this is the only letter I have written today that has not born news of lost loved ones. It is a welcome respite. I feel as if I have failed every time I find myself writing condolences for hours on end. There are always so many. Runo—Duach—often wonders how I can somehow make each letter sound sincere. He has written so many of his own that he's taken to a template. I do not have an answer for him. I suppose I just feel like the families deserve that extra effort. It may take more time, and be more depressing, but at least they do not feel as if the letters are rehearsed and cold. It is something of an honor to their dead family members, and a show of respect and apology to them; though maybe I am just being fanciful._

 _As to the matter of character and honor, please do not use the term 'saving yourself'. It makes me sound like some sort of fanatic, and I guarantee you that is not the case. There is simply nothing to be gained or found in matters of lust. Some gratification, perhaps, but when that is all said and done, what is there, really? If I am going to participate in such intimacy, it will be with the one I intend to share my entire life with. Not that there will ever be any such one. You know my feelings on matters of love, and so it is unlikely any marriage born of such a thing will ever occur. Marriages of convenience are no more likely. I am the thirteenth prince. As such I am the least desirable. I am worth the least, would bring the least, and frankly am merely a last resort when there is no other option. In fact, father hardly bothered trying to make matches for **any** of us after Franz._

 _I hear my men returning from another drunken night on the town. Oh joy. More tales of debauchery and depravity. Of course having twelve older brothers, half of which are or were married, it isn't anything I haven't heard before, I suppose. It is no less pleasant to listen to. I smell the alcohol from here. I must admit I'm sorely attempted to throw them all in the brig and keep them there._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Prince Hans_

…

 _Prince Hans:_

 _I am sorry that you had to go through that. I cannot imagine how it must have felt. I understand what it is to watch someone dying and to feel powerless to save them. I have felt it with you, more than once. You, though, pulled through. To try and picture how it would have felt if you hadn't proves a task I cannot bring myself to imagine, and this is despite our less than fond views of one another. You had to watch men you actually cared for die, unable to save them. I wish I could do more than apologize._

 _Your sentiment as to the intimate touch in your letters of condolence is not fanciful, your Grace. I find myself agreeing with it whole-heartedly. They do indeed deserve that extra effort and care. I am glad to hear you grant them it, and surprised. For that I am sorry. Sorry that every time you do something decent, or confess to a good deed, that I am taken aback._

 _Regarding your beliefs as to your value in the political span of things, I think, perhaps, you consider yourself as of less worth than you are._

 _As to the matter of your inebriated compatriots and what you would like to do to them, wish what you will, but restrain yourself, Hans. I'm sure you can handle drunken, lust stricken, seamen. Either that or you could lock yourself away, I suppose. It may work too. Best of luck to you in dealing with them._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Queen Elsa_


	2. You Have Made Your Brother a Whore

You Have Made Your Brother a Whore

(A/N: **Trigger warning** flashback that may need to be rated M, according to two reviewers who have warned I could, and will, be reported for it. Given Frozen's platform, and given how touchy a subject matter it is, I can see their point. It wasn't meant to offend. I actually meant to raise awareness to this taboo topic and bring attention to a real danger out there. Raise awareness that in fact no, children aren't always as safe as they seem, and yes, things this horrible do happen and they happen often. It's a reality that can't and shouldn't be hidden from, and the more people who are aware of the danger the better and safer children can be. I've changed the rating of the whole story to M now, as the mystery referenced in the description is pretty gruesome, but let me know if it should be. In my opinion it's not overly bad, the worst the flashback gets is a close call, but feel free to skip the whole thing. It doesn't need to be read. Though it's the bulk of the chapter, its only bearing on the plot is exploring Franz's past, giving an idea of just how long he's been a 'partier' - read PTSD alcoholic - and showcasing the start of Hans's hatred and distrust of him, the point where his relationship with the middle brother fell apart. Not that there was much of one to start. It will be referenced in future stories, possibly, and gives a bit of backstory to the woman Justic ended up marrying, as well as hints at the reason for the resentment felt between Franz and Justic over the latter's choice of wife, etc. It's basically a 'history' chapter. And shows the darker side of Franz and just how macabre he's willing to get despite being the laid back one of the bunch.)

"What is your sister smirking about?" Kristoff asked as he and Anna watched Elsa reading something.

Anna grimaced. "She's rereading a letter of Hans's from about a week ago, the latest one she replied to," she answered. It was usually a week between each letter.

"Huh, prince has a sense of humor. One _Elsa_ shares. Go figure," Kristoff said, shrugging.

"I guess. Whether it's intentional or not, it apparently tickles Elsa's funny bone," Anna wryly said, frowning.

"I take it you're not pleased?" Kristoff asked, smirking.

"In a word? No," Anna answered. "It's just weird, you know. To think she shares anything in common with Hans. I mean they don't even like each other and yet I've never seen her smile, or heard her giggle, as much as she has since the correspondence began."

"In war you kind of _have_ to lighten the mood with humor," Kristoff said.

"I know. It's sort of interesting how many emotions I see go across her face when she reads letters from him, actually. I mean, I saw her go from misery to laughter in this last one alone. I don't like it," Anna stated.

"You think she's growing fond of him?" Kristoff asked.

"Eww. No," Anna said, obviously disgusted at the idea of it. "But… I don't know. I'm just worried. Hans knows how to play you, you know."

"I know," Kristoff answered, nodding. "Chameleon Prince."

"I don't trust him," Anna said.

"Neither does Elsa. Heck, his own brothers hardly trust him. I don't think even _he_ trusts him," Kristoff said.

"Right. So why does Elsa always have to be so eager to receive his letters?" Anna asked.

"Hey, it's not like she's receiving them from anyone else. The ones she _does_ get are usually proposals, or offers of political marriages, or requests to meet. She's not into anything like that. I guess Hans is a refreshing change. He's not after anything from her, and I think she appreciates that there's at least one guy out there not looking to get more than she's willing to give," Kristoff said.

"None of his brothers are either," Anna pointed out.

"Don't bank on it. Pretty sure every one of them that's single has considered it. _Iscawin_ certainly has," Kristoff said. "They're just not persistent about it. Well, Iscawin is, but still. I'm thinking Elsa is basically just a correspondent to Hans. She's kind of his link to sanity and peace. I mean the guy's on the front lines of a war. Pretty sure he's not thinking about how much he hates her when he's writing her. She's his respite, I guess. For now. When this is all over it'll go back to normal, I'll bet."

"I suppose," Anna relented with a sigh. She still wasn't comfortable with this, though.

Frozen

Hans's eyes scanned the letter, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Elsa's response?" a voice asked. Franz Neb.

The youngest prince frowned, looking over, then turned attention back to said letter. "Yes," he answered, finishing it off.

"I knew it. You always smile when you're reading them," Franz said.

Hans blinked and blushed faintly, to his own annoyance. He frowned over at his sibling. "We share a sense of humor and a wit. Sue me," the youngest prince defended. He opened the leather book on his desk, where he stored all her letters, and tucked it in. "I'll respond to her when I have something to report."

"You've sent her a letter every week on the button since the start. I'd advise you write her on schedule with or _without_ any news to report," Franz replied.

"I will," Hans stated. "I always have."

"I'm surprised you two are keeping up at least a semi-cordial correspondence," Franz remarked.

"There's no time for grudges in war," Hans replied. "I'm more focused on keeping my men and myself alive."

"You know what would be good for their morale? And yours?" Franz asked.

"I swear to god if you say a brothel…" Hans began.

"A brothel? Great idea! You read my mind," Franz cut off. "Let's go."

"Franz!" Hans shot.

"Oh come on. Loosen up. Do you really intend to be a virgin your whole life?" Franz asked.

"For your information, it isn't that hard," Hans shot. "What is your obsession with sex anyway?"

"It's fun and can be a good workout," Franz replied.

"So is breaking horses. I don't see you doing that," Hans said.

" _That_ is life threatening. Sleeping with a woman isn't," Franz replied.

"Don't be too sure," Hans replied, smirking.

"Point taken," Franz admitted. "But then I've never been a horse person."

"And I've never been one for women," Hans said.

"Men?" Franz asked.

"Franz!" Hans shot sharply. "No, just no."

"Fine, fine. If you were, Moren would probably cauterize you anyway," Franz said. "Dad may have been a tyrannical dictator, but he was a progressive tyrannical dictator. Moren is less tyrannical less progressive."

"No kidding," Hans dryly said, rolling his eyes.

"Look, I'm not asking you to participate in any of the distasteful stuff. Come with me and we'll keep it just a bonding experience," Franz said.

"Make it a tavern instead of a brothel and I'll go with you. But no women. And for the love of all things decent, don't drink yourself out of your head. Please," Hans pled.

"You're taking all the fun out of it," Franz said.

"Fun for you, maybe, but the _first_ time you brought me with you to a place like that and drank yourself into a stupor… Do I even need to continue?" Hans seriously said.

Franz had visibly paled and stiffened. After a long moment he answered, "Please don't… Alright. I won't drink myself into a frenzy, and I won't abandon you to go off with some tavern friends."

"Yeah, because I've never heard _that_ before," Hans said with a scoff. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though. Again." Franz was quiet, looking distant. Perhaps there was even a look of regret and shame in his eyes as he remembered the incident Hans had referred to. Hans, seeing this, sighed and glanced away. He turned back. "Look, I shouldn't have brought that up, okay? Let's forget I said anything. We'll have a good time without getting drunk, or in your case gratified, and it'll be good."

"No, you have every right to bring it up. And keep bringing it up," Franz quietly said. He looked at Hans. "I screwed up that day. Badly. More horribly than I ever had before or ever will again… It was a horrible, horrible mistake, and you were the one who paid the price. You had every right to grow to hate and mistrust me after it…" He still remembered his father's words to him when it was discovered what had happened…

Flashback

"You have made your brother a whore!" father furiously bellowed at his child. Twelve-year-old Franz quivered in terror before the man, eyes wide. Father was right. The reality of that struck him harder than anything ever had. He had made his baby brother into a whore. No, no he hadn't! Nothing had happened, he'd stopped it! The little one was sobbing in their near-to-weeping mother's arms. She tried so frantically to sooth him, but Hans wouldn't be soothed, and mother kissed him and tried so desperately to assure the young one, and there was just so much happening and so much he was trying to process…

"Hans, I didn't mean…" Franz began, reaching towards him. The six-year-old gave a little scream, burrowing further into their mother's arms. "Hans…" Franz began, withdrawing at how frightened his sibling seemed of him.

Mother looked at him with such anger, such disappointment, such… such hatred… He had never thought a mother could look at her own child in that way, and he wanted so badly to stop existing in that moment. Frankly, at this point the middle prince wouldn't have blamed their father for having him thrown in the dungeon or executed on the spot. Father turned to the guards. "Take the boy out of my sight. Such a blow to royal pride will not be tolerated." Of course. Royal pride. Why would the man care about Hans? "He is to receive twenty lashes. Draw them out." Franz felt his heart drop and his stomach twist, but he didn't protest. He didn't fight. He didn't argue. He deserved this. He knew he deserved this. Frankly, had he been ordered to he would have run himself through for what he had done…

Earlier That Night

"Of all the nights to give me the task of babysitting you," Franz said, holding his little brother's hand in annoyance as he walked.

"Where are we going?" Hans demanded uneasily. "Mama said don't leave the palace." The little boy looked around in fear and wonder. He had never been away from the safety of the castle before. He'd never seen the town or anything beyond the palace walls, say for what could be viewed through his bedroom window. It was all so big!

"It's none of your business. You just stay close and don't tell mother and father. Or our brothers. Or anyone. It's a secret, Hans, do you understand? It's a secret."

"A secret?" Hans asked, eyes wide.

"Yes, and I'm trusting you to keep it," Franz said. "Promise?"

"I promise!" Hans exclaimed, ecstatic that one of his siblings was actually taking him into a confidence. They never had before, none of them.

They approached a building. It was loud and looked warm and inviting, but Hans smelled alcohol. He didn't like that smell. One of the council members sometimes smelled like that, and then he got really, really mean and dangerous. Franz pushed open the door and entered, holding Hans's hand tightly. "Neb!" a group of people called out. Some of them looked as old as Caleb was, and others looked as old as Franz did. Franz looked more like fifteen because he was already starting to grow facial hair. Franz's voice was already breaking too, so he sounded older. And he was very tall for his age. Rudi said he'd stop growing early, though.

"Who is Neb?" Hans asked.

"It's my nickname, now stay quiet," Franz answered, frowning at his sibling. "Go over there in that corner and read your book. Don't talk to me when I'm with my friends. I'd be the laughing stock if I brought my tagalong baby brother over to them. Stay put and don't move."

"But Franz…" Hans began. He gasped as his brother let go of his hand and walked over to his friends. Hans stood in place, mortified. He'd never been away from the palace before! What was he supposed to do? He shifted uneasily, looking at all the strange adults around, then went to the corner Franz had pointed him to and sat down to read and hope no one bothered him.

Frozen

Franz and his friends drank and laughed without shame or letup, revelling in the debauchery of this place. In fact, the middle prince had completely forgotten about his brother about an hour in, having drank himself into a stupor. Hans, meanwhile, was feeling very uncomfortable. Everybody was looking at him funny. Maybe that was because his clothes were nicer than any of theirs. Mommy always said to be careful about that, because then people would know he was a prince and not everybody liked daddy. As far as Hans was concerned, _most_ people didn't like daddy. At least, that's what Jürgen claimed. Franz had changed into peasant clothes, but hadn't given _him_ time to.

"Little boy. What are you doing in a place like this? You're too small," a man said, frowning worriedly.

"Too rich," another sneered less concernedly, more maliciously. Roughly the man poked him. Hans looked up at them, wide-eyed, and tried to curl in on himself to disappear. "Boys like you don't belong here. They get hurt. Badly."

"Leave him alone," the first man ordered the second. "You're drunk. It's time to go." The second scoffed, but nonetheless followed.

Hans watched after them uncertainly. What did the man mean by 'they get hurt'? Hans shifted uneasily, suddenly much more acutely aware of the gazes fixed on him. He wanted to go home, he decided. He whimpered and climbed off of the chair to find Franz. He went towards the table where he'd seen his brother and company. "Franz," he said, tugging at a coat that looked like his brother's. The person turned and Hans gasped, jumping back with eyes wide. This wasn't Franz! But-but Franz had just been sitting here five minutes ago! He'd seen! Hans turned and hurried back to his corner. Maybe his brother was looking for him there. He would sit there like a good boy and not move until his sibling found him again.

Frozen

Half an hour, an hour, an hour and a half. Hans was near panic and fearful. He stood on the chair, frantically searching for his brother. He wasn't here. He wasn't coming! Had Franz forgotten about him? Everybody always said he was the most forgettable, and Runo had told him that if he went missing no one would care. They did care, though, didn't they? They had to! But then where was Franz?

"Franz?!" he called out. "Franz!" he shouted more fearfully, voice breaking. "Franz, where are you?! Franz!" Shivering, Hans sank back down into the chair. No one was coming. Had he been abandoned? He got left behind… He whimpered and curled up, starting to cry. He didn't even know where he was!

Franz, meanwhile, was gods knew where, drunk and laughing and joking with his friends. They'd left the tavern almost three hours ago, now. He couldn't shake the feeling he was forgetting something, but it probably wasn't important. He'd remember if it had been important. "Did you see the little boy in the tavern?" one of his friends asked.

"What was a child that age even doing there?" another scoffed.

"Maybe mommy and daddy got fed up with him and left him there for some stranger to pick up and employ," a third said.

Little boy? That sounded familiar, but Franz was a little too drunk to be able to focus in on the memory that was coming to mind, so he let it go. "Humph, the owner of that tavern will be _all_ too happy to take him in, if that's the case," Franz said. "I hear he uses children as servants for all sorts of things, like cleaning and slaving away."

"That isn't the worst he uses them for. Sometimes they have to sleep with the patrons," an older boy, pushing 17, darkly remarked.

"Little kids sleep with adults all the time. They get scared or don't want to be alone, so they crawl into their parents' beds, or the beds of someone who they think will protect them," Franz said with a scoff. His littler brothers _always_ crawled into his bed, much to his chagrin. Or into mama and papa's. Of course at twelve years of age the true meaning of those words wasn't realized by him, at least not immediately.

The older boy looked incredulously at Franz as if he wanted to say something, then decided Franz was too young to hear it. "Right. Let's go with that."

"Father tried to have an investigation done on the owner of the tavern, but then he called it off for some reason," Franz continued. He wasn't sure why father had wanted to have the place investigated, but he made it a point not to ask questions so didn't. "I think he was threatened with something so he let it go. Father is a coward," he finished.

"Or he was protecting you or your brothers or your mother," another of his more sober friends, one of the few actually decent ones he had, pointed out.

"None of my brothers after me mattered. I don't think even _I_ matter," Franz scoffed. But it was possible the King was protecting his flower child, Caleb. Whatever the matter of it, it didn't concern him.

"I hear the tavern owner's daughter is as miserable as her father," the seventeen year old said.

"Given who her father is, I can't say I'm surprised. I actually feel sorry for the poor thing. I hate to imagine the things her father did to her," the more sober friend gravely stated. "Whatever the matter of it, if that child _was_ abandoned there, his parents should be executed. You would think they would at least pick a more decent place to leave their little one. A church, maybe? Odds are they will have ruined the boy beyond repair by throwing him to that man."

Franz shifted uneasily. He wasn't sure he liked or trusted how those words seemed to strike him. The feeling he'd forgotten something was coming back harder now, and through the fog his mind was in from the drink, an image was starting to appear. He just couldn't pick it out. "What did the boy look like, again? I didn't see him clearly," another person said.

"He was a pretty thing, probably about six. He'll be a favorite, for sure. Red hair, I believe, and the greenest eyes I've ever seen outside of your family, Neb," one stated. Franz had gone whiter. "Err, Neb?"

Franz blinked then shook his head. "That's because he _isn't_ outside of my family! Dammit, Hans! I forgot all about him!" the middle prince exclaimed. "I have to go back and find him!" Preferably before the tavern owner or his daughter did. "Hans!" Immediately the middle prince turned and ran to seek his sibling. His friends were visibly shaken at the outburst and nervously exchanged looks.

Frozen

"Little boy, why are you crying?" a girl questioned.

Hans, sniffing, looked up at her, frightened. She looked maybe sixteen, he decided, but she sounded younger, like fourteen or less maybe, so he wasn't sure. "I got left behind," Hans answered. "My brother… he forgot about me…" Or abandoned him, a darker thought said.

"Aww, that's not nice," the girl said. "Come with me, little one. I'll take you upstairs. You can stay with father and me until he comes back. We own the tavern." Hans didn't like the idea of that. Something told him it wasn't safe, and he'd learned long ago that if it didn't feel safe, it likely wasn't. His brothers taught him that. He almost _never_ felt safe around them, and he almost never _was_. He shook his head, but didn't speak. "Come now. I won't hurt you," she said. Hans curled in on himself more. "I'll go get my father. Maybe he'll make you feel safer," she said. Hans simply nodded. He didn't think he wanted to stay here, he decided. But where could he go? He didn't even know the way back home. This was a part of the Southern Isles not in view of the palace. The girl, seeing he wouldn't reply, turned and left.

Hans sniffed again, looking uneasily around. Only a few people were left. There were lots more women now, he noted. They were dressed very improperly, he decided, and were getting very friendly with the men left over. They weren't supposed to act like that, and neither were the men returning the advances. He didn't understand what was happening or why so many were suddenly disappearing in couples. There were some that stayed back and didn't pair up with women. He didn't know if he wanted to know why. He also didn't like how some were looking at him. They looked at him like Uncle, and sometimes Aunty, looked at Caleb, Jürgen, Lars, and Kelin-Sel, and like the strange man who had once come had looked at Lars and at him.

Soon enough the girl came back, and with her was a man who looked him over appraisingly then smiled, approaching. "Hello, little one. Are your parents here?" the man asked.

"No," Hans mumbled shyly.

"How did you get here?" the man asked.

"My older brother brought me, and now I can't find him," Hans said.

"How old is your brother?" the man questioned.

"Twelve," Hans answered. "But he looks and sounds fifteen because he's already growing facial hair and his voice is starting to break and go deep."

"What do you think happened to your brother?" the man asked.

Hans was quiet, appearing suddenly devastated. He looked to the ground. "I don't know," he replied. "He left with other people, his friends. I think he forgot me… Or abandoned me…"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, and you don't know how to get home," the man cooed in a sympathetic tone. "You can stay with us, if you'd like. I take in many little lost children, or abandoned ones. You'll have to work, of course, to pay your way, but it won't be so bad. Some chores, here and there, some…"

"The servants do chores, not me," Hans dryly deadpanned to the man, looking less than impressed at the insinuation. He could have sworn the man's eyes lit up even brighter. "Oh, you're wealthy," the man said. Not that he hadn't judged as much already from the clothes, but it was a matter of _how_ wealthy. "So, you don't know how to do chores like cleaning, then?"

"I do _some_ chores. Father says he won't raise useless children, so he makes us work sometimes," Hans defended. "Just… not often. Or on much."

"Well, I have other jobs you can do," the man said.

"I like working with horses," Hans offered, daring to let his guard down slightly. If he was going to live here forever, now, he might as well do something he liked and was _really_ good at it.

"I was thinking more along the lines of… keeping people company," the man said.

"Like talking to them?" Hans asked.

"Something like that," the man replied. "Adults get lonely at night too, you know. They like to snuggle other adults, when they do. Sometimes even children. You would have a warm bed and make them very happy." Hans looked uneasy. "Come now, little one. I will show you how you would help them."

He offered his hand. Hans eyed it uneasily then looked longingly towards the window, willing Franz to come back… But he didn't… Tears welled in the little one's eyes and soon he sniffed, wiping them and taking the man's hand hopelessly. He had no choice, he knew.

Frozen

Franz ran as swiftly as he could, shoving people out of the way and doing all it took to get back to the tavern. How far had they wandered from it, dammit?! "Hans!" he shouted again, hoping against hope that Hans had wandered out to search for him. He knew better. They had all been taught very young that it was best to stay in one place if you got lost, so Hans wouldn't have moved from that tavern. Tavern. At this point in the night the place would be more a brothel! And his brother… His baby brother was in the thick of it and at the owner's mercy! Suddenly the words of his older friends were starting to make a bit more sense, and he didn't like that they were. He double timed. Where was the place, already?! He didn't have time for this!

Frozen

The man led Hans upstairs with his daughter. "Take the little one and get him bathed," the owner of the tavern said to his daughter. "I'll make him some food and get him a little something to drink." The food would be drugged so the child wouldn't scream and would be too out of it to fight. The drink would be a strong alcohol so the first experience wouldn't be painful. It was best to make it seem as pleasant as it could be, so the little one wouldn't be as desperate to escape it as he would normally be.

"Yes father," she replied, taking Hans's hand and leading him to a room where a bath had been prepared earlier. It was supposed to be _her_ bath, but now it was the boy's. Good. It meant she was off the hook for tonight. If father _really_ liked him, she'd be off the hook for a _few_ nights. She would have to make sure the man took a shine to the little boy. It was a depressing and selfish way to think, perhaps, but sacrifices and all that. "You never told me your name," she remarked. Hans was silent, not giving it. Oh well, it didn't matter. He'd get a new one anyway. "Undress now," she said.

"I can bathe myself," Hans said, obviously very edgy. Hmm, this one was a clever little thing, wasn't he? Suspicious and constantly on guard. Which meant his home life couldn't be as easy as she'd first thought. Perhaps he was neglected or bullied or beaten up. There were signs of an abusive household, after all; and there was no other reason he'd be this on edge and paranoid around her.

"I know you can, sweetie, but there's a special way this bath works," she lied. There were special rituals and soaps she would use to make him more appealing for father or potential clients, but the bath in general worked like any other.

"A special way?" Hans asked, slightly curious.

"Yes. Now be a good boy and undress," she said.

Hans continued to hesitate. Soon, though, he tentatively began to remove his clothes. He didn't like to, though. Kelin-Sel always told him never to take off his clothes if anyone that wasn't mommy or daddy or his brothers asked him to. Eventually he got into the bath and watched the girl warily, eyes almost challenging her to try anything. She just hummed, pretending she didn't notice, and gathered some soaps and oils and the like.

"These will make you smell very nice and make your skin very soft," she explained.

Hans looked dubious. His skin was already soft. His family wasn't exactly working class. He supposed she meant softer, though. She returned with the soaps and oils and began washing his hair. She let him wash his face, and while he did she began to wash his neck. Shoulders. Upper back. Middle back. Lower back… Hans yelped, jumping as she went lower than lower back. He shot her an 'if looks could kill' look. "Don't touch me!" he sharply said.

A child should not look that murderous, she realized with a chill, withdrawing before she fully thought it through. Recovering from the surprise of seeing that look, though, she smiled at him and went back to doing exactly what he'd just told her not to do. He tried to hit her, but she caught his wrist. "Easy, little one. I'm not going to hurt you," she gently said. "Why are you so jumpy?"

"Because Lars says not to let anyone touch me below the waist," Hans answered matter-of-factly.

"Your mommy touched you below the waist whenever she changed your diapers as a baby," the girl pointed out.

Hans blinked and looked a moment uncertain and confused, bravado fading. She made a point, after all. Mommy and daddy had both done that, and a lot of his big brothers too. It wasn't bad then, so why had Lars said not to let it happen now? Then again, Kelin-Sel said not to undress in front of strangers, so maybe it had something to do with that. His resolve came back and he shifted away from her. "Don't touch me," he repeated seriously.

She frowned. This wouldn't be as simple as she thought. She put on the smile again. "Here, little one, play with this," she said, giving him a toy to use in the bath. She gave him space. When he was preoccupied playing, she could chance things again. After a while the little one began to get engrossed in the play, ignoring other things. She waited a moment more then went back to washing him. He didn't seem to notice this time, beyond an annoyed and wary look that told her he was still on guard. Probably not enough, however, to be of much use to him. She began washing his tummy.

Frozen

Hans, busy in his pretending, soon tuned out the actions of the girl. The servants washed him sometimes too anyway. They weren't strangers, of course, but this girl wasn't doing anything they hadn't. Except for when she was washing below the waist, but she'd stopped now, so… "How does this feel?" she suddenly said in what Jürgen called a 'husky' voice. Though what dogs had to do with it Hans had no idea.

"Feel?" he asked, confusedly looking at her. Just then his eyes lit up in realization and he gasped sharply, realising she was below the waist again, this time in front. "Stop it!" he shrieked, splashing her then throwing the toy at her face. His little heart was suddenly pounding a mile a minute, and his eyes were wide in horror and fear.

She laughed. "It felt good, I can tell," she said, pointing at the place she'd been touching.

He looked confusedly down then up at her again, not quite getting it. The way she was looking at him, though, made him feel ashamed and humiliated. He whimpered slightly then murmured in an embarrassed tone, "I want to come out now."

"Alright, little one," she agreed. He quickly got out of the bath. She opened some oil and began applying it to his body.

"I don't like this," he said. Again, servants had done such things before, more for mommy but sometimes for them on special occasions, but this didn't feel right. Any of it.

"Stop being difficult, brat!" she said sharper than intended.

Hans's eyes narrowed. See, confrontation he could do. It meant he got a feeling of power back. "Then stop doing things I don't like!" he ordered.

"What are you going to do to stop me?" she sneered.

"I order you to stop!" Hans insisted as she got rougher, holding him painfully now.

"Excuse me? Order?! What am I, your servant?!" she demanded.

"You're my subject, I'm one of this land's Princes, and if you don't stop this right now I'll have you whipped!" Hans snapped viciously.

Frozen

The girl's reaction was immediate. Her eyes widened in terror and she literally leapt back about four feet with a gasp so loud it echoed in the room. She looked at him in disbelieving horror. The-the _prince_?! One of the king's sons?! No, no that wasn't right! He was lying! No king's son would be in a place like this. "You lying little bastard!" she screamed, suddenly slapping him as hard as she could, sending Hans to the ground with a shriek of pain. Stunned, Hans staggered quickly up and tried to get away, but she leapt on him again. "Come here, you little worm!"

"Help!" Hans screamed. "Guards!" Not that any would come, it was just reflex at this point, to call for the guards when he didn't have his family around or a blade in his hand.

"What is going on here?!" the owner's voice suddenly boomed. The girl gasped, paling, and turned to her father, wide-eyed.

"D-daddy…" she began, obviously terrified.

Hans shoved her and ran to the owner, forgetting his state of undress. "She hit me!" he said. "And she touched me where I told her not to and she scared me!"

The tavern owner, however, seemed unaffected by this, and in fact appeared more interested and amused by the little one's state of dress and the way the boy was now clinging close to him for protection. "There, there, little one, she won't touch you again, I promise. Lillith, go to your room. I'll deal with you later."

"N-No, please," she pled, voice breaking.

"Now," her father commanded. Her mouth quivered and she began to cry, running from the bathroom. Hans, stunned, watched after her. Had he hurt her when he pushed her, or was she just scared her daddy would lecture her or beat her? He didn't like seeing her cry, he decided, or seeing that expression on her face. It made him uneasy. It was the expression Lars and Kelin-Sel got whenever Uncle or Aunty was alone in a room with either of them, or whenever they _thought_ they were alone with either of them. Or both of them. Caleb always had no expression while Jürgen always looked ready to snap. The man turned to Hans, smiling. "Come, little one, wrap yourself in a towel and let's eat something. What's your name?"

Hans blinked up at him but said nothing. He pulled away and wrapped himself in the towel. He didn't like this. He didn't like how the man wasn't giving him his clothes back either. He didn't have much choice in things right now. He hated being out of control and feeling powerless. It never ended well when he did. Subtly he began scanning for an exit strategy, while following the man into the tavern to eat. He was good as exit strategies. He always needed them for everywhere. In case his brothers, at least the meaner ones, caught him unaware.

Frozen

The girl, Lillith, peered through the cracks in her floorboards that looked down on the tavern. She saw her father with the little boy. He had placed the child on the bar and was letting the patrons all subtly watch from their positions. The child ate, oblivious to the looks he was getting or the inquiries those visiting the bar were making to her father. She stood up and looked around. Well, at least father would be preoccupied with the little one soon enough. If she'd done a good job, the child would keep father busy a good long time and maybe he'd forget about punishing her. In case he didn't, though…

She went to her window and looked out. She shouldn't run. Whenever she did, he found her and it was always worse. On the other hand, if the little boy was indeed royalty… There was something that could be gained from that. She could hold him above their heads and demand her father be taken away forever. Then the other little girls and boys he kept here would be released. They would never be okay, but at least they'd be out of this place. And so would she. For the sake of everyone her father kept under his authority here, she hoped the little prince sucked it up and gave the man a good time. Quickly tying together some sheets, she made her escape silently and ran from the tavern.

Frozen

"I'm dizzy. And I feel tired and sick," Hans complained in a murmur. He was hardly aware he was being picked up and carried somewhere. "I want my mother. I want Franz! Where are they?" He was hardly even aware of what he was saying, anymore. The food tasted good but strange, and the drink he'd had was disgusting but he'd drank it to be polite anyway.

"Your brother left you, remember? He abandoned you. Mommy and daddy probably told him to," the man answered.

"They didn't! Mama loves me!" Hans insisted.

"Then your brother _doesn't_ , and maybe he was jealous and took you away from them so you could never go home again," the man said.

"He wouldn't do that," Hans fearfully replied, drawing back and looking at the man worriedly.

"Then why hasn't he come back?" the man questioned. Hans felt his heart drop. It wasn't true… It _couldn't_ be true! …But if felt like it was… Tears burned his eyes and he sniffed, looking down. "Don't worry. You have a new family now," the man said. Hans was quiet. Maybe they'd be better than his old one, the little prince decided bitterly. He shouldn't be bitter, he knew… He was too young to be bitter, Lars always said, but he was.

He felt himself laid on the bed. Everything was so blurry. He felt like he should sleep, but he couldn't. "What's happening? Why can't I see well?" he asked the man.

"Relax, little one. You don't need to see tonight," the man replied. Hans felt the man doing something. He was vaguely aware it was something below the waist and he was vaguely aware that he was supposed to be telling the man off, but his tongue didn't want to work. He whimpered, shifting and trying to scramble away, but the man pulled him gently back. "Lay still, boy. It won't be so bad if you cooperate."

"What won't be bad?" Hans finally managed to whimper, sobbing slightly. Something was wrong. He wanted to get away, but either his body wouldn't work or he was being held down. He couldn't tell. He just knew hands were places they shouldn't be. Or rather hands were _trying_ to be where they shouldn't be. "Let me go!" he insisted, making a desperate attempt to throw himself off of the bed. It didn't work. The man just growled and pinned him all the firmer.

"The sooner you cooperate, the sooner we get this done," the man said.

"Franz!" Hans screamed frantically in the last desperate hope that his brother had come back and would save him. "Franz, help me!"

Frozen

The girl ran through the streets, lightly panting. "Hans!" she heard a desperate voice cry out. "Hans!"

She stopped, looking in that direction. She saw a young boy racing towards her and the tavern desperately. He looked like the little boy. Her eyes lit up in realization. Maybe this was his brother. If this was his brother, that meant this running person was a prince! If he was a prince, it meant she could put her plan into effect.

"Excuse me!" she called as he was running passed.

He stopped, looking frantically back at her. "Have you a little red-haired boy anywhere? Greenest eyes you'll ever see in all your life," he demanded.

"As a matter of fact, I have. My father has him," the girl replied.

"Oh thank god it wasn't the tavern owner," he gasped out.

"My father _is_ the tavern owner," she said. "And you won't find where he has your brother if you don't cooperate with me."

Franz stiffened and slowly looked at her. Was this girl seriously blackmailing him? "What?" he icily asked.

"You don't have time to get defiant, prince. The longer you dally, the more likely my father is to be doing things to the little one that a _grownup_ would hardly be able to handle," she said. "I help you, but in return you help me."

"Take me to my brother or I'll kill you!" Franz freaked.

"That won't get us anywhere," the girl replied.

Desperation shone in the older prince's eyes. "Fine!" he finally blurted. "I swear on penalty of death I'll grant you whatever you wish, just get me to my brother!"

"Follow me," the girl replied, racing back towards the tavern. Franz followed her closely.

Frozen

Franz and the girl raced into the tavern. Franz ignored the drunks reaching for him or praising his looks and calling him over with offers of money. He stuck close to the tavern owner's daughter. She led him downstairs to a locked door. "Is he in there?!" Franz demanded.

"No, but other children are. The sooner you free them, the sooner we reach your brother," she said.

"I have no time for games!" Franz freaked.

"You're right, you don't. He's probably already doing things to the little one. Hans, was it? Best you do as I say. The day I trust royalty to keep their word is the day pigs fly," she replied.

"Damn you!" Franz freaked. Oh she was clever. He had to give her reluctant credit. She wasn't as dumb as he'd suspected she'd be. He turned to the door, worry in his eyes, then grimaced and immediately began trying to break it down. Well, _that_ was doing crap all. If his older brothers were here then maybe it would work, but _this_ wouldn't. He scowled then drew his sword, jamming it into the lock. It didn't work. He withdrew it, more and more frantic each second, and looked around the ground. Seeing two small instruments, he dove for them, grabbing them up, and turned attention to the lock. Quickly he began picking it. Soon it clicked. He could have cheered in victory.

The girl threw open the door and a group of terrified children looked up. "All of you, stay here and don't come out just yet. I'm going to come back. We're going to be okay and get away from this place, I promise. No one up there will hurt you anymore," she said. Franz blinked at the little ones in disbelief. The rumors had been true! He felt sick to his stomach.

"Where is my brother?" he hollowly, numbly, asked.

The girl nodded to him and ran up the stairs. He followed her quickly. She ran up to the second floor of the tavern and down a hallway. Darting into a living area, she looked around. "Daddy's room is in there!" she said, pointing to a room.

Just then Franz heard his brother shriek his name and nearly panicked. He bolted instantly for the door and leapt into it with his full body weight at stop speed. He probably should have checked if it was locked or not before resorting to breaking it in, but what was done was done. He drew his sword, rushing inside, and his eyes widened in horror. His little brother lay on the bed, and the man above him was ready to take things to the next level. A level that went beyond the fondling happening now. For a second Franz couldn't find his voice. When he did, though, he shrieked in rage, "Get off of my brother!" He lunged at the man without even a second thought and tackled him off the bed. Immediately he went to run the person through, but the man was swift to recover from the surprise and caught his arm, scowling. The girl raced to the bed, grabbing Hans and running out of the room. Right now she had to get the boy and the children out of this place. What befell the prince she didn't care; as long as this time she got away for good.

Frozen

The girl and the children were all huddled in hiding in the bushes outside of the tavern, waiting for either the man to come searching, or the prince to emerge victorious. The girl doubted the latter, but who knew? The back door opened and the children all held their breath. The girl held Hans, now limp and borderline unconscious, closer to her body.

Hans's eyes weakly flickered open to see the figure. He was too big to be Franz. His heart dropped. His brother was dead, he must be! Suddenly, though, the bigger figure fell with a groan and lay still. A moment later Franz emerged, looking down at him and shaking visibly, even from here. The girl rose quickly, eyes wide. "Daddy?" she asked fearfully. Immediately she ran out of hiding and came to Franz's side, looking down at the man in horror.

Franz looked over at her. "He'll survive," he remarked. "Barely. A doctor is coming. I sent one of the men to fetch one."

"They listened to you?" she breathed.

"When they saw what I did to your father? Yes," Franz darkly answered.

"Wh-what did you do?" she questioned.

Franz looked down at him. He began to chuckle. Darkly. More darkly than a boy his age should have ever chuckled. "I cut off what mattered to him," he finally answered, totally nonchalant. "He won't hurt any little kids again. Or you. At least not like that." Franz looked over at her and snatched back Hans, glaring at the girl. "And you'll pay for your blackmail. Your father will be the _least_ of the evils you would have suffered by the time I'm through with you and your audacity."

"Let the little children be kept away from here and helped," she answered.

"Why should I?" Franz sneered.

"Because your brother was almost one of them no thanks to you, you drunken idiot!" she screamed at him, slapping him viciously. Franz started, blinking rapidly, then suddenly looked ashamed. He tuned to the child in his arms.

"Okay," he finally relented. Like that the nightmare was over. Or beginning… His brother would never trust him or look at him the same again…

Present

Franz took the whipping boldly, embracing every strike and gritting his teeth savagely. He needed to weather this, he had to. He tried to preoccupy himself. The children had been presented to father, and father had ensured they were sent to a proper orphanage. That wouldn't help them, Franz knew, but at least it was better than being _there_. The tavern owner was allowed to live. In prison. He'd avoided death only because the punishment Franz had inflicted on him had been far worse than execution, or so father had said. The girl? Franz hoped she'd hang, but Justic had taken a shine to her, highly impressed with the wench's smarts. Franz wasn't. As far as _he_ was concerned, she should have stayed a wench. Then none of this would have happened. He supposed he knew that wasn't so, this had happened because of him and his debauchery and that was the end of the story, but it helped to pass the buck to that stupid whore.

Justic had ensured she was allowed a position as a servant in the palace. He had said she had saved their brother and the child slaves and the harlots in the tavern all, as well as herself, so didn't deserve punishment and should in fact be given a position in the palace. His brother wanted her close always. Two minutes and his sibling, the one closest to him of them all, no less, and who he'd most cared for, had come to love a stranger more than any of his own brothers. Not only that, but Justic had also advocated for Franz's being whipped. Traitor. Franz felt like spitting at him. The middle prince hoped the girl would prick her finger and that the injury would get infected and that she would die…

And all of this was thought only to try and erase the guilt from him, but it _was_ him. It was all him. He had made his brother a whore. Perhaps the man had not been able to get all the way, but what he'd done was enough for anyone who learned of it to think it justified calling his sibling just that, should they want to, and that was something he would live with forevermore…

End Flashback

 _"_ _You have made your brother a whore!"_

Those words rang in his head to this day. He would never forget them. It was an incident he wanted to erase from history, wanted to forget ever happened… But he couldn't, and it had happened, and it would always be there to remind him of how horrible of a failure he was at being a big brother and a man. He started, feeling Hans place a hand on his shoulder. He looked at his little sibling guardedly. Tiredly. Curiously.

"You need to stop," Hans said. "It's done. Nothing will change it, but what happened then… It's so long ago now I can hardly even remember it. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. You came through before it could get there. I can't say I forgive you for it, but I don't hate you for what happened that day. Not anymore. The blame game? There's no point to it any longer. You made a mistake."

"Yes, but never before had I made one that costly. I never have since," Franz stated, looking down and away.

"It's done," Hans said. "Accept that and move on as best you can. _I_ have, and so I know you can too." Franz was quiet. Finally he sighed and nodded, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder and squeezing gently. Hans nodded back with a smile, and the two continued on towards the tavern. "What did you ever do with that man's... err, 'parts'?" Hans wondered. "Please tell me you fed them to him."

"Humph. I kept them as a trophy," Franz replied.

Hans froze and blinked blankly. "You're kidding, right?" Because that was kind of... macabre and deeply disturbing. It wasn't normal.

"Nope. I had Rhun pickle them and stick them in a jar," Franz said, absolutely no hint of exaggeration in his tone. Hans grimaced but didn't say anything. Doing so would probably be a bad idea about now. He just nodded and let it go.


	3. Weselton's Ultimatum

Weselton's Ultimatum

(A/N: Due to two negative reviews last chapter, I've bumped the rating of this story up to M. I didn't think I had been descriptive, and I tried to write it with language above the level of what most children would understand, but it was a very touchy and taboo subject matter, so in retrospect I get why offence was taken. So out of respect for those reviewers and their feelings on the matter - after all, Frozen is a major platform popular with kids, so I agree that I probably should be more discerning in my rating of my Frozen series - I've upped the rating. Given most all of my stories across the board are geared towards older teens and adults, I usually rate them with a looser format. I've never written for a movie this popular that is geared towards such a large age demographic, so kind of went into it treating it like it was any other series I've written. Kind of forgot it was a bit more influential of a platform than most other platforms. Was reluctant to rate it M as last chapter was probably the only chapter until father on that's even close to deserving of a higher rating, and even those farther on chapters are kind of few and far between so far, but it's enough.

Hans's turn coating may seem repetitive now, a reviewer pointed as much out to me - thank you said reviewer - but it's repetitive because it's meant to be. There's a little more to the reason as to why that is. That and it's the last time for a while he pulls something like this, so yeah.

To my last guest reviewer, you have no idea how much you review meant to me after the two negative ones. I'm so sorry for what happened to you, and I'm glad that you took away from last chapter the message I was kind of aiming to get across. That such a subject is so taboo is worrying. Awareness _should_ be raised about it, and the dangers and reality of it need to be brought up. You're right, children aren't always as safe as they may seem to be. I'm glad you got some satisfaction out of reading what Franz did to the man in vengeance for his attempt.)

Hans was pinching the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. Already he was regretting this. It had been humiliation at its peak since Franz had slipped into drunkenness despite his efforts to keep his brother sober. At least he'd gotten his sibling cut off after this drink, though. "To my brother, the virgin prince!" Franz said to all those nearby. They all cheered and raised mugs as well.

"Almost half of us are virgins, Franz!" Hans protested.

"Perhaps, but you're the one who intends celibacy for the rest of his life," Franz said.

"I never said that!" Hans protested. "Forgive me for holding off!" Under his breath, he muttered, "Sex-starved bastard."

"Oh come on, Hans, what are the odds of your _ever_ marrying?" Franz scoffed. "You're thirteenth in line, after all."

"Bite me!" Hans shot.

"To Prince Hans, forever doomed to be a bachelor!" Franz said, raising his mug again. Again the rest cheered and took a swig. Hans face-palmed with a groan. He considered shooting his sibling in the leg before deciding such an action would end in a lot of legal humdrum he couldn't stand. He looked up, hand covering his mouth frustratedly. He sighed, sitting up and folding his arms as the men in this tavern began poking fun at him. It was like childhood with his brothers all over again. Well, _Elsa_ would get a laugh out of his next letter, at least. He only _wished_ he could find this as humorous as she probably would. He smirked dryly to himself. He could only imagine her reaction to reading it. A pity he wouldn't see it in person. His smile fled. Ugh, what was he thinking? Okay, enough of this alcohol nonsense. He'd never liked the stuff anyway. With a grimace he shoved the mug away and stayed silent, tanking the jabs and taunts. On occasion there were admirations, for which he was grateful, but the teasing far outweighed the admiring.

Frozen

"Your brother means no harm, Prince Hans," his companion, one of the only other sober ones here, said with a laugh.

"He never does," Hans answered, giving the other a sharp glare. Prince Eric. They had docked at port in his kingdom to stay for a while and replenish supplies and repair damages.

"You're a bitter one, aren't you?" Eric said, shaking his head. "Justic was right."

"Justic would do well to keep his mouth shut about his brothers," Hans answered.

"Close friends share things that wouldn't usually be shared," Eric defended, shrugging.

"I guess," Hans relented. It wasn't Justic insulting him anyway. "Can't you order him taken out of here and locked up for the night?" he almost pled to his fellow prince.

Eric laughed. " _That's_ a bit extreme," he replied.

"But well deserved," Hans answered. "He doesn't always end up or stay a happy drunk, you know."

"Let him have his fun," Eric defended. "Tomorrow we put out to sea again. For all we know, it could be the last time any of these men _ever_ carouse. Him included."

"Wow, didn't pin you for a pessimist," Hans said.

"I'm being a realist," Eric replied, shrugging.

Hans sighed. "Listen, maybe you should stay. You have a wife and a daughter, Eric. I doubt you really want to risk being taken from them permanently," Hans said. "This isn't even your fight. You were a last minute option. Really this is more a favor on your part to Justic, but it's too risky a favor to keep pursuing," Hans said.

"Perhaps…" Eric quietly said, thoughts immediately turning to Ariel and Melody.

"You aren't held to anything. As far as _I'm_ concerned, fathers shouldn't even be made to go to war," Hans said.

"I agree. But they do. To wish otherwise is naïve, no offense," Eric said.

"People only say 'no offense' when offense is intended or expected," Hans deadpanned, glaring at Eric. Eric blushed and grinned sheepishly, shrugging. Hans rolled his eyes. "Look, at least take a week or two to yourself. I've dictated enough letters of condolence to the wives and children of fallen men. I don't need your name added to the list. Justic would have my head if I let anything happen to you, for one, and for two I _really_ don't want to get on the bad side of a mermaid who's probably the granddaughter of Poseidon."

Eric blushed deeper. "She-she isn't… who told you that… I mean…" he stammered.

"Save it. Justic may be your best friend, but he tends to also share secrets with his brothers when he shouldn't. Just like he apparently shares things with _you_ that he shouldn't," Hans said.

Eric didn't even try to stammer an excuse this time. He sighed, finally. "I get the point," he said. "If you really want me to, and you think you can handle Norway on your own, then I'll take a week's leave."

"Do that," Hans replied. "By the by, I'm writing a story based on you and Ariel. I might share it with you two sometime."

"You write?" Eric asked.

"Often," Hans answered, nodding. "Whenever I get a moment to. It's kind of a passion of mine."

"Well, I'll look forward to hearing it," Eric said, smiling. Hans somehow doubted that, but he didn't voice it out loud. "We'll make a date to meet," Eric continued. Hans just nodded and focused on making sure Franz didn't sweet talk the maid into lifting his ban.

Frozen

Returning to the inn room, and supporting his brother who was on the verge of passing out - he had been naïve to hope Franz was too drunk to be able to romance the bar maid into lifting the ban - Hans sighed deeply in annoyance. "I told you to quit while you were ahead, Franz. Humph, so much for bonding," Hans chastised. More like humiliating. Franz had leapt on every opportunity to embarrass him. Not that he was surprised. When in certain moods, or when at a low point, Franz got a sort of cruel enjoyment in putting others down to feel good about himself.

"Sorry," the other mumbled, a cross between ashamed and just plain tired and beyond caring.

"Whatever," Hans said.

"I mean it… I know I need to control it better, to get a handle on it… It's just hard sometimes…" Franz said. Hans was quiet. Franz Neb never showed it, but Hans was beginning to realize just how badly witnessing death affected his brother. He'd never really thought of it before. He had seen Franz do some pretty dark things. Cutting off the tavern owner's parts, killing their… The point was, Franz had done a lot of things he wasn't proud of. He'd just never shown it, Hans knew. Now, though, he was starting to see. Every time a serious battle broke out, or blood was spilled, Franz disappeared. Never came back until the next day, and when he did he was hungover or drunk. It was concerning the youngest.

"If you're suffering from something…" Hans began.

"Post-traumatic stress? Kiddo, I've been dealing with that for a long, long time now. I've learned to live with it. Mostly," Franz said.

"Says the guy slurring every word? You can't even walk for yourself," Hans said.

"Too tired to argue with you," Franz muttered. "Leave me this, little brother. I'll deal with it when I deal with it."

"When you've destroyed your liver?" Hans bit.

"Back off!" Franz snapped. Hans jumped but held his tongue. He didn't need to shove Franz over the edge into angry drunk mode. He needed his sibling to sleep it off. It seemed he himself wouldn't be getting rest tonight. If Franz ended up vomiting, he didn't want to wake up to see his brother had choked to death in his sleep. That was something he didn't need right now… It wouldn't be a death dignified enough for the middle brother… He shook his head and laid Franz down on the bed gently.

"Sleep it off, big brother," Hans said. "You'll be fine. For the most part." Franz nodded, eyes already closing. He rolled onto his side pretty well instinctively. Apparently he still functioned enough to know laying on his back would be a death sentence. Hans wondered how often Franz had tended himself in a drunken stupor. Or if he ever did. Heck, how had Franz even _survived_ some of his worse binges? _They_ certainly had never been there… No one was ever there… Not even Neb's friends tended to stay often, so frankly it was seeming more and more miraculous the harder he thought on it. He sighed, drawing a hand through his hair, then went to the writing desk in the room and sat. He wasn't sleeping, so he might as well write back to Elsa.

 _Queen Elsa:_

 _Apologies will do. They are, after all, all that can be given in the end._

 _I can hardly blame you for feeling as you do. At times I cannot believe for myself that I have any such measure of decency and pity. Besides, you are not the only one who must apologize for something like that. I'm afraid I must as well. I am sorry I have such trouble believing that you could bring yourself to care about watching me die or fading in sickness._

 _It is flattering you believe that I consider myself of less worth than I am, but also foolish. Perhaps one day I may prove to be worth something more, but I will not hold onto such a naïve ideal. I know my place._

 _I accompanied Franz to a tavern today. I immediately regretted it. Of course Franz got drunk, and the next thing I knew he was toasting my bachelorhood—amongst other less proper things to discuss in public—to the whole place. Frankly, I wanted to shoot him. At least in the leg. But then that would have done no one any good. Except me, maybe, satisfaction wise._

 _He drank himself into a stupor, as I suspected he would. He always promises to restrain himself but never does. It is frankly annoying to have to be my brother's keeper. I'm afraid sleep won't come to me tonight. I have to make sure my brother doesn't choke himself to death. Unfortunately, we also must leave early tomorrow. I'm afraid I won't be as well rested as I could or should be, but if worse comes to worse, Franz may be able to take over the commanding position. He isn't entirely incompetent when it comes to sea strategy._

 _I'm afraid this letter isn't as humorous as I'd hoped it would be. I am quite tired. I hope you and your own are all well, and that no threat has yet come from Weselton._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Prince Hans_

Frozen

Elsa read over the letter, lips pursed in a cross between annoyance, seriousness, and amusement. "Whoa, what has _you_ so exasperated? And amused. And whatever else you are," Anna's voice asked from behind as she peered over Elsa's shoulder.

Elsa turned. "Nothing, Anna," Elsa answered. "You know, it's rude to read other people's mail."

"Oh come on, sis, what's so private you don't want to share?" Anna half-teased.

"Nothing, on my end, but what Hans writes is meant for my eyes. I'm not sure what he'd think about you reading over my shoulder," Elsa answered. But then again, she got the feeling Franz had probably snuck a look at a good number of her letters too, so there was that. Anna and Franz really were quite similar in a lot of ways.

Anna frowned. " _That's_ cold," she remarked, reaching the part where Hans had written he had trouble believing Elsa had cared about watching him die.

"I was just as cold in my last letter. Unintentionally," Elsa replied.

Anna read on. "Wow, Franz can hold his liquor. At least, I think that's the term Kristoff uses," she said.

Elsa frowned at her seriously. "Have you been going to the tavern with him?" she demanded.

Anna started and blushed. "N-no, he talks about it, but I haven't gone with him, Elsa, I promise!" she said.

"Good. Keep it that way unless you have a chaperone with you. I know you love him, Anna, but that doesn't excuse your behavior with him," Elsa chastised.

"I'm a big girl, Elsa! I can take care of myself," Anna defended. "I know what to avoid and what's not okay to do. I'm not going to sleep with the man until after we're married. What was it mom used to say? Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"

"I know you can take care of yourself, little sister. What I question is whether you can _restrain_ yourself. Or him for that matter," Elsa said, folding her arms and frowning seriously at her sibling. "You know the limits, both of you, but keeping to them isn't an easy task. Especially not when you let yourselves get tempted so often."

"I don't need the lecture!" Anna shot. "Trust me with a little more restraint and self-control than that, Elsa." Angrily she turned, storming away.

"Anna!" Elsa called. Her sister was gone. Elsa sighed in frustration, shaking her head and biting her lower lip. She needed to keep an eye on them. She didn't trust how defensive Anna was being. It usually meant something was being hidden. She hoped it wasn't anything overly serious. Shaking her head, she went to her desk and sat to write a response to the prince.

 _Prince Hans:_

 _You are very cynical and bitter, you know. I wish you would stop saying such things as 'I know my place'. Try, instead, to tell yourself something positive. Change things up a bit. It isn't as though doing so will hurt you. Please don't say I should take my own advice. I know I should._

 _Franz is concerning me. He really should get help for his drinking, or find an alternate. I fear his reliance on alcohol goes deeper than he knows._

 _It worries me, to hear that you will not sleep tonight. You can't fight tired, Hans. You should have found an inn worker to watch your brother. You needed sleep. Keep it in mind for next time. I do not want to hear you were killed in battle because you were not awake enough to stand your ground._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Queen Elsa_

Elsa looked over the letter and cringed. She pondered confiding in him about her fears over Anna and Kristoff, but maybe that was a little too private to share with an enemy. At least for now. Maybe in time she would decide to let him know of her worries. She would just make sure Anna and Kristoff were chaperoned from this point forward, for now. She would talk to Kristoff about it and warn him how serious it would be for him if the arrangement wasn't kept to. Satisfied with her decision, she placed the letter in a little canister, bound it to a pigeon's leg, and sent it off.

"Queen Elsa?" a voice asked, as Elsa watched the bird flying away.

Elsa turned curiously. Kai stood there, holding a letter and looking shaken. She frowned. "What is it, Kai?" she asked.

"A message has come from Weselton," Kai answered. Elsa's eyes widened. She cursed herself for not waiting a bit longer before sending her response to Hans. She smoothed her dress nervously and went to him, regaining her composure. She took it and opened it up, reading it through. As she did, her eyes slowly widened and became fearful before calming again. There was time to act, she reminded herself. There was still time to interfere in this. "What do we do, your majesty?" Kai questioned.

"I'll send word to King Moren of the pending crisis," Elsa answered. "He in turn will inform Prince Hans. They'll decide, from there, what to do. The King of the Southern Isles promised me that we would be allowed to remain neutral. He will keep his word. Don't worry, Kai. I have it under control." Which was a lie, she felt anything _but_ in control, but she had to appear confident, so as not to worry her servants or let word spread to her people, already uneasy about the war going on outside of their borders.

"As you wish, Majesty," Kai replied, bowing. He left, then, and Elsa turned back to the letter worriedly. She took a deep breath and sat to write another message.

Frozen

 _King Moren Westergaard:_

 _News has come from Weselton. The Duke has threatened me with war if I do not comply with his demands. He orders me to step down from the throne of Arendelle, and has told me that if I will not give myself into the hands of someone who 'knows how to deal with a sorceress', then I should at least have the decency to banish myself and stay away from Arendelle forever. I will not flee my kingdom again, and I will not put myself in the hands of some witch hunter. Most of all I will not give myself over to him to deal with. I fear, though, what he will do when he realizes I have not complied._

 _I cannot contact Hans as to this matter. The message came after I had sent my response away to him, and I have no current means of reaching your brother. I do not wish to wait a whole week to deliver this news, much less if he would have to discuss actions with you. Whatever it takes to stop this madness, I will allow it. Even if it means Hans enters Arendelle's borders again._

 _I hate to admit it, I do not wish to seem weak, but I'm afraid, Caleb. I don't know what to do. Please respond quickly._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Queen Elsa of Arendelle_

…

 _Queen Elsa:_

 _I have sent word to Hans of all you have written. As we speak he approaches your borders. Jürgen has driven Weselton off of the seas, and so they have retreated to land. That is why they have set their sights on you; because they know they cannot stand to us. With their naval threat contained, Jürgen Meilic is free to take over Hans's campaign against Norway. Norway poses no danger to you, given Arendelle is of their kingdoms, and of Sweden's._

 _Hans will send to you when he has crossed your borders, though according to our agreement he will not approach closer than a day away unless you otherwise allow it. He will not need to, if things go well._

 _Do not fear, your Majesty. Arendelle is protected by the Southern Isles and their alliance. You will not be harmed by Weselton if we can help it. Before **that** ever happened, we would send ground troops to lay siege to their capital. Expect word from Hans any day. We will take care of everything. This audacity will not be let go._

 _Sincerely,_

 _King Moren_

…

 _Queen Elsa:_

 _My brother has sent word to me of your predicament. By the time you receive this letter, we will be a day away from Arendelle, though we will not come closer unless otherwise commanded to. I will sail up towards Weselton from there, and the matter of the Duke will be dealt with swiftly, if everything goes according to plan. When he realizes that a military presence from the Southern Isles has invaded his land, he will know he has picked a very foolish battle._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Prince Hans_

Frozen

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe tonight she would sleep better than she had been lately, worrying about the Duke. She looked out the window towards the sea. It was alright now. They were safe. At least for a time. Well, she sincerely _hoped_ they were safe. Picking up a quill, she turned attention to a response.

 _Prince Hans:_

 _Thank you for the prompt action of you and your brother. Perhaps it will allow me to sleep better tonight. I haven't slept well at all these last few days, worrying about this. I must admit I feel guilty. For all of it. The war, the inconvenience to you and your siblings, eveything._

 _I wish I could make things right with the Duke again. If only to ease the tension of this fight. He will not hear me, though, and I suppose I am too proud to ask audience with him. At this point it would be foolish to anyway. He would view it as a sign of weakness and submission. I cannot give him that satisfaction, otherwise it will get to his head. I will not bend my knee to Weselton and I will not flee Arendelle._

 _I wish he would listen to me. I wish everything could be patched up between our lands; that he wouldn't be so bent on my death or banishment, that he wouldn't be so afraid of me, that I in turn wasn't so uneasy in regards to him. I never wanted this sort of drama to begin with. Again, I am sorry it was so. I know it isn't my fault, but it feels like it is._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Queen Elsa_

Frozen

Hans read over her latest letter for probably the fifth time, mind whirring a mile a minute. She made a point. Patched relations with Weselton would benefit the Southern Isles in this war. Perhaps even bring an end to it, though it was unlikely. The tension between Scotland and the half-Scottish Southern Isles was intense. They didn't take kindly to sharing a kingdom with the Danes, and thought even less of the mostly Danish King and princes. Norway was no fan of theirs either, for that matter, though that was for another reason altogether that _he_ didn't even entirely understand.

Weselton may drop out, but Scotland and Norway would remain firm in this war. All that could be done to patch _that_ strain was a political marriage. Should one of them marry into Norway or Arendelle, Norway would drop out as well. That would be a big headache on the seas gone. It was unlikely there would be any marriage with Arendelle, however, unless Elsa saw the wisdom in it and finally accepted Iscawin's advances. Connyn was having little luck in finding a Norse noblewoman or royal to attempt to woo. Most had already married, and those that hadn't were mostly teenagers. Of course marriages with girls as young as fifteen or sixteen, on occasion younger still, were not unheard of, but Connyn felt uneasy about such things. _Most_ of them did. If Connyn _did_ resort to such a measure, there would definitely not be any touching or even interaction beyond what was required at events. At least until the girl grew up.

Matters of Norway and Scotland weren't his concern, at the moment. Weselton was. There had to be a way to fix this. To patch things up between the nations. Of course the Duke of Weselton was the most stubborn worm he had ever known, set firmly in his ways. It would take nothing short of a miracle to patch the matter up. But then the whole world was a series of miracles. It would take something big to get through the Duke's thick skull and into his head, though. It would require the old man's speaking to Elsa. However, the Duke wouldn't go to her and she would be foolish to go to him willingly. The man wanted her blood.

Hans's eyes lit up. The man wanted her blood… So what if he offered the Duke her head on a platter? After all, _he_ had wanted her blood too, and the Duke knew it. The Duke also knew he had betrayed her before. It would be easy to 'switch' sides, and a win for him no matter _how_ it ended. Either way the war with Weselton stopped. A dark smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. Of course, Elsa couldn't know his intentions, which would put him in a compromising position no doubt, but then he got something of a sick satisfaction in seeing fear and shock on the faces of those who didn't expect his turn-coating. It reminded him that at least he was good at _something_ , dark and twisted as it may be. Besides, it wasn't as if it would mean her life, he'd be sure of it. Even if something _did_ go wrong and death ended up in the cards, it was Elsa or him. However it ended, it wasn't as if either of them were each other's biggest fans. Nor would they _ever_ be. Probably. He frowned, not liking the 'probably' that had slipped in there. Putting it out of mind, though, he tucked the letter away. So he had a plan. Now it was a matter of carrying it out.

 _Sorry, your Majesty, but in the end it was for the greater good. You wanted this, after all._

If things went south for either of them, live and learn. Or die and learn. Whichever.

Frozen

"Has word come from Arendelle yet?" the Duke of Weselton demanded of one of his servants.

"No, my lord. She has given no answer," the servant answered.

"No more waiting. Now we act," the Duke said, punching his fist down in his hand. "Prepare to attack!"

"My Duke, the Southern Isles have come upon our land!" a Commander exclaimed suddenly, racing into the throne room.

"What?!" the Duke exclaimed, a look of horror and fear crossing his face. "The sorceress queen… She must have gone to the King of that land," he realized. "Dash it all! Prepare for battle!"

"They're before the gates, sir!" the Commander said.

"Already? Why wasn't I informed _sooner_?! Don't let them in! Kill them!" the Duke insisted.

"They are led by his Royal Highness Prince Hans, my lord Duke. He flies a flag of truce," the Commander reasoned.

"Kill him anyway!" the Duke insisted. "Besides, I never liked the boy."

"Your Grace…" the Commander began.

"I'm through waiting," Hans's voice said from the entrance of the throne room.

Frozen

The Duke gasped loudly, clutching his chest and willing himself not to have a heart-attack. He looked numbly at the prince. "Your Royal Highness!" he exclaimed.

"I don't take kindly to being plotted against, my 'Dear Duke'," Hans icily said, crossing his arms and glaring at the man coldly. "Least of all when I come to present an offer you can't refuse."

"An-an offer? What-what offer?" the Duke stammered, trying to get a grip. Soon enough he regained some control, clearing his throat and putting on his regal look in an effort to intimidate. Though the odds of that were nonexistent. The Southern Isles were known for not being intimidated, and the princes had been trained from infancy to deal with pain and suffering, so intimidation never really worked anyway. They'd suffered much worse at the hand of their father, various relatives, and at each other's hands. Care, conscience, and love were not traits taught in that family. They were seen as weakness and hindrance, useless and unworthy. They were not desirable qualities.

He'd marvelled at how Hans had been so composed and stable and kind at the Queen of Arendelle's coronation. He'd almost believed him an imposter, or a prince that had escaped the cruelty of his family. Until the betrayal. _Then_ it had made sense, how the youngest had seemed so benevolent and gracious. If not for the woman their father had married, the Duke had little doubt those boys would have been turned into a brood of little psychopathic killing machines by age four. Or earlier. Maybe two. He was of the opinion some were borderline as it was, Hans among them. Perhaps, though, he was exaggerating. He knew little about the children of the Southern Isles. He had, during political meetings and gatherings, heard Hans addressed as a high-functioning sociopath or a psychopath. He had heard Caleb addressed as true sociopath or true psychopath also. He had even heard Lars called a sadomasochistic psychopath. He'd heard equally dark things about each one of them. The rumors seemed to fly around the royal family of the Southern Isles. Who was to say which ones were true and which weren't? _He_ certainly wasn't going to risk asking or analyzing it. If any of those statements had basis in fact, he would much rather work on entering their good graces again. War had been the opposite of that.

"I offer you Queen Elsa," Hans answered, smirking at the perceived fear. He wasn't oblivious to the rumors around the grapevine as to what he and his siblings were or weren't. None of them were. Moren often used the misconceptions and ideas to his advantage when it came to dealing with political relations. They would work now just as well.

The Duke blinked. "Excuse me?" he asked after a beat.

"I offer you Queen Elsa on a silver platter. Or gold. Whichever you prefer, Grand Duke," Hans said.

"But-but-but, the Southern Isles…" the Duke stammered.

"Is protecting them? Well, _Moren_ is, but I don't exactly have much loyalty in me for him. Less for Elsa. I perceive nothing but gain in handing her to you. Monetarily, militaristically, and otherwise." The Duke just didn't need to know _how_. "Withdraw from this war and Elsa will be in your custody within a week. Or if you prefer payment up font, I can manage that. I get the sense you're smart enough not to go back on your word," Hans said.

"Ah, so my men are posing a threat," the Duke proudly said, puffing up like a peacock. "If we're so much trouble to you that…"

"You're like a gnat distracting a bull," Hans deadpanned, deflating the man. "You're no threat, but you're just stupidly determined enough to get on our nerves; and just skilled enough to be picking off more men of ours than we consider you worth. Pull them out, or the next assault will be on your front doorstep. If only to squash you before you start buzzing around again where you have no place."

Frozen

The Duke blinked and was silent a long moment, processing all of this. "If I have so little choice, why are you bothering to offer me Elsa?" he finally questioned.

Hans's jaw twitched slightly. The man was cleverer than he gave him credit for. Clever enough to be annoying and a potential threat to this entire plot if he didn't play his cards right. There was more to this Duke than the old man let on, Hans sensed. The prince was used to dealing with that sort of person. Those who hid all they were truly capable of. He was _one_ of them. As were his brothers. "Because if it's even possible, I despise Elsa more than you. Despise _and_ disdain her." Not, he inwardly added. He really, _really_ was no fan of the Duke's. For various reasons. "Getting her out of the way is just a bonus to me. It's a prize to _you_ , though. One I can deliver."

"What makes you think she'll trust you after all you did?" the Duke asked.

"She'll come at my bidding. Believe me," Hans answered.

"Young man, if you are using her emotions against her…" the Duke began.

"I don't have feelings for Elsa!" Hans immediately and sharply cut off.

The Duke blinked. "I, err, wasn't implying… Never mind," the Duke of Weselton stated, looking incredulously at the prince.

Hans blushed faintly and cursed under his breath. He had to keep his temper in check or this wasn't going to work. Cover time. "Hey, I'm just sick and tired of everyone under the sun assuming I care about her. We exchange a few letters and what, suddenly we're friends? Give me a break. Now do we have a deal or not, my Lord Duke?" the prince demanded.

The Duke was quiet a long moment, obviously suspicions about this. Could he really pass up the opportunity, though? The sorceress in his clutches, at his mercy. He could finish what his men had started and failed at because of Hans. The prince was right, after all. An alliance with the Southern Isles could only be beneficial. Perhaps they could work together and take Arendelle as well, while it was under Anna's control. Of course there really would be no reason to do that other than power, when Elsa was gone, but the Southern Isles _did_ like power.

"Very well. We have a deal," the Duke finally relented, tentatively offering his hand to Hans. Hans didn't take it, making it very obvious the disdain he felt for the man. The Duke was almost tempted to give him a sound thrashing and have him thrown in the dungeons until he learned to respect his elders; but he didn't. That would get them nowhere. "You have a week to get her here, your Royal Highness," the Duke added.

"I won't need that long," Hans replied, turning and marching away, snapping his fingers in the air as a signal for his men to follow him. They did so immediately. As soon as the prince was gone, the Duke let out a shaky breath and fell back on his throne. He hated feeling like he'd just made a deal with the devil.


	4. You Stick to Your Strengths

You Stick to Your Strengths

 _Queen Elsa:_

 _I have a plan. It's all arranged. You will see the Duke in two days' time. He has agreed to a meeting with you. I have a way with words. Read threats. The man is embarrassingly terrified of the Southern Isles. I will meet you in 'Weaseltown'. You will arrive without impediment, and I will bring you to the Duke. Bring Anna, if it suits you, but not the ice harvester. He is the last sort of person the Duke would want to discuss matters with._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Prince Hans_

…

 _Prince Hans:_

 _I will do as you say. I don't know how you managed it, I don't believe I_ _ **want**_ _to know, but thank you._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Queen Elsa._

Frozen

Hans had checked and rechecked the history of Weselton with Lars about ten times over, now. Mael had actually been getting annoyed with him and at one point had subtly hinted at dragging him down into the dungeons. Lars was hesitant about giving him political information, nowadays. Especially given how he'd taken his older brother's advice regarding Arendelle and turned it into a treachery. Mael got uneasy when Hans started asking questions about the history of certain lands, now.

Hans reviewed his notes on the matter, a grave and perhaps even pitying look on his face. He hadn't know _any_ of this. At this point he wished he'd never known, but here it was in front of him and there was no denying it. It made sense, he realized. It explained so much about the Duke. Things he'd never wanted an answer to, but now wanted _more_ answers to. As long as those answers came from the man's own mouth. Things might turn out better than he'd expected, with this new information in hand. He wanted very much to quiz the ruler of Weselton. Unfortunately, for now he had to restrain himself. It was time to go down to the docks, about an hour from the main capital, and meet Elsa and Anna.

Frozen

"I can't believe you asked me to come. You usually _never_ want me going with you over the sea. You know, in case a storm comes up or something bad happens, etc," Anna said as Weselton came into sight.

"I'll make an exception this time," Elsa replied, smiling at her sister. "It's for the best we both be there to greet the Duke. We must make the best first impression we can. There's a lot to make up for."

"Yeah. On _his_ part," Anna replied. The two sisters snickered.

"Unfortunately, we can't let _him_ know that," Elsa said.

Anna frowned ahead. "Um, are those Southern Isles ships?" she questioned, pointing at a triad of vessels.

"They are," Elsa confirmed. "Hans spoke to him on our behalf to set this up."

"Hans? Elsa, are you out of your mind? For all we know he's plotting against us with the Duke as we speak," Anna worriedly said, frowning. "I mean sure you guys have been corresponding, but that doesn't mean he hates you any less."

"I know," Elsa seriously answered. "I _am_ on guard." Just… maybe not as much as she _should_ be. Another danger in keeping up regular contact with the prince. Hans wasn't the type you let your guard down around… So why did she feel so inclined to? Ugh, she had to stop this. He wasn't to be trusted. She kept telling herself as much over and over, and would have to continue to.

 _But you don't want to._

Her jaw twitched. There was more to him than a monster, she knew there was. But she didn't know if it was enough to save the man… _That_ was what she had to hold in her heart and mind and soul, not the 'what could have been' of it. What could have been _wasn't_ , and probably would never be. But here she was, and she wanted to see the man overcome the monster. _That_ was where her hope was. Yet uncertainty and past experiences made it so hard to think it was even possible for the prince to do so. She _wanted_ to believe in him. _Had_ to. If no one else did, then he fought alone, and she knew what it was to fight alone. She couldn't wish that on anyone. Not even on him. He had, perhaps, fought alone for longer than even _she_ had. It needed to stop.

Frozen

The boat drew into the dock and was bound to the moorings. The gangplank was lowered and the queen and princess strode regally off. Hans waited at the base of the plank and reached up his hand for Elsa. She took it and nodded gracefully. Anna's hand was taken by one of the Southern Isles soldiers. "Are you ready for this?" Hans asked them.

"As ready as I _can_ be," Elsa answered.

"Don't try anything funny," Anna threatened coldly, frowning at Hans. Hans grimaced but didn't reply. The three royals entered the waiting carriage, and it began on its way to the Duke's castle.

"What can I expect when meeting him?" Elsa questioned anxiously.

"A lot of disdain, prejudice, and hostility," Hans answered. "Don't expect things to be easy. Or tolerable."

"So why are you playing Ambassador? Isn't that Justic's job?" Anna suspiciously asked.

"I'm not exactly playing Ambassador to my own country now, am I?" Hans replied. "I'm playing it to yours because apparently _your_ ambassadors can't handle the Duke."

"We, uh, don't have any ambassadors," Anna murmured sheepishly. "I mean, we kind of do, but he's, um, also the local taxidermist. The original Ambassador died at sea with our parents."

Hans looked less than impressed. "You really should work on that," he deadpanned.

Elsa face-palmed, grimacing in embarrassment. "I would, but everything has kind of happened really fast," she murmured lamely, by way of excuse.

"Might I suggest you hire yourself a steward, Your Majesty?" Hans replied flatly.

Elsa sighed. She needed to make a list, she determined. After most of the castle staff had been dismissed all those years ago, and after their parents had died, the situation in Arendelle had become less than ideal and had yet to recover. It was a slow process, but she really needed to focus her attention on it. There was just so much else to deal with… It was hard having at it alone. Kai and Gerda were wonderful, but they weren't exactly meant for those matters. Elsa looked out the window and saw the Duke's castle approaching. She bit her lower lip nervously and took a breath, composing herself. She had to appear the strong, confident, cold, and unmoving queen here, if she wanted to have any sway in things. Just not cold enough that the Duke would get scared. She rehearsed her plan in her head. The closer they drew to the palace, though, the less likely it seemed that it would actually work. She might have to throw it all out and improvise her way through this. She could do it. She _had_ to.

"Hey, you'll do fine," Hans's voice said, breaking through her thoughts. She blinked and turned to him curiously. "No matter how rough things get, in the end it'll all be worked out. I have a plan, remember?" As extreme as it may be. Frankly it had a 50-50 chance of success, at the moment, but if things went the way he hoped, those odds would go substantially up. It had to seem as genuine as possible. The beginning was crucial, and could very well set this whole plot up for victory or failure. It was dangerous for him, yes, but the benefit would outweigh the cost. He hoped.

"That's supposed to make us _feel_ better?" Anna asked. Hans gave her an annoyed look but didn't grace her with an answer.

Frozen

They entered the throne room where the Duke was seated, Elsa as composed and regal as ever, Anna struggling to stay that way but managing well enough, and Hans walking at Elsa's side dignified as they'd ever known him to be. "My Lord Duke," Elsa greeted, bowing her head ever so slightly. Anna curtseyed warily. She didn't like how many soldiers seemed to be here. Neither did Elsa, it seemed. A chill had started in the air.

Hans moved towards the Duke. "The Queen and Princess, as I promised you," he said, bowing slightly to the man.

"As you promised? What do you mean?" Anna immediately demanded.

"You're quite the jumpy one, aren't you, your highness?" the Duke said to Anna. "I suppose you suspect some backstabbing act of treachery?"

"The presence of your soldiers here is less than reassuring," Anna deadpanned, folding her arms. Elsa was silent, her gaze hard and icy. And fixed on Hans accusingly and guardedly.

"Can't anything be dramatic anymore?" the Duke demanded in annoyance. "Humph, fine. Spoil the surprise. Seize them!"

Anna and Elsa's eyes widened in alarm as immediately, and all at once, the soldiers lunged. Hans stood back, arms folded as he indifferently watched the attack on the sisters. "You snake!" Anna screamed at Hans furiously.

Hans shrugged. "Why do you continue to be surprised?" he replied. "The interests of the Southern Isles are foremost to me. You two are just liabilities."

"I'm not surprised! I'm _angry_!" Anna shouted as she was seized despite struggling frantically to get free. "Angry that Elsa chooses to believe in your goodness when obviously there isn't any! You only care about yourself, and that's it! It's all you're capable of and now we suffer for it!"

"Hey, you stick to your strengths, isn't that right?" Hans replied with a cold chuckle.

Elsa, scowling now and prepared to freeze everyone in this room and beyond if need be, stiffened, eyes slowly widening and reflecting realization. _You stick to your strengths_. He had said those words before; after their temporary victory over the troll king. She looked sharply up at the prince. He smirked ever so subtly and winked. She felt a shiver shoot through her, lips slowly parting. What did this mean? What was going on?

"Elsa, fight back! Fight back!" she registered Anna calling; but the older sister's eyes were fixed on the prince, meeting his own steadily. He showed no other sign of anything, anymore, expression set and sickly satisfied now. But his words… _You stick to your strengths_ … His use of them meant something. A message. It had to! Either that or she was giving him far too much credit, which was entirely possible.

 _It'll all be worked out. I have a plan, remember?_

She cancelled her ice and stood up straight, not putting up a fight. She hoped this wasn't a choice she regretted. "Elsa, what are you doing?!" Anna exclaimed.

"I won't risk your life," Elsa answered. Which, while true, wasn't entirely true _now_. It wasn't Anna in danger from the Duke, after all. It was her. To explain to her sister her true reasons behind stopping, though… It wasn't something Anna would take kindly to, and it wasn't something she was even certain of herself. She wished she could read the prince… "Call your men down. I'll go willingly," she said to the Duke.

"Really now, what happened to dramatics?!" the Duke demanded in annoyance. He sighed. "Very well. Stand down." The men did so.

Anna moved to fight them again, the moment she was released, but Elsa placed a hand on her sister's shoulder firmly. "No, Anna. It's over. We don't have a choice," she firmly said. Well, they did, and if she was smart she'd take it, she decided, but part of her still believed…

"Take them away," the Duke commanded. "I will deal with the sorceress queen soon enough. Magic wielders. Humph. Disgusting creatures." Hans shot the Duke a dagger glare. His brother happened to _be_ one of those 'disgusting creatures', if that were the case. He had half a mind to punch the man in the face. He decided the moment opportunity presented itself, he probably would, but for now he had to play it cool and classy; get friendly with the nobleman. The dominoes were falling according to plan thus far. They had to _keep_ falling that way for a little longer, before he began to antagonize the Duchy of Weselton.

Frozen

Anna and Elsa soon found themselves locked up in a dungeon, Elsa shackled with hands behind her. She looked bitterly back at the chains binding her, recalling when chains similar to this—though this was a set of two chains that encased the hands, not one—had been used on her in her own dungeon. Anna looked out of the cell furiously as the soldiers walked away, then turned sharply to Elsa. "Why didn't you fight?!" she demanded.

"Because you were in danger," Elsa replied.

"That isn't true and you know it!" Anna insisted. She knew her sister better than that.

Elsa sharply looked at her, eyes narrowed in a gaze that warned Anna not to press. She sighed, though, looking down. She had kept her sister in the dark about so much already. She wanted to be honest with her always. "I stopped fighting because something doesn't add up," she answered.

"Hans betrayed us to the Duke. How _doesn't_ that add up?" Anna questioned.

"It's something Hans said," Elsa answered. "You wouldn't understand!"

"Elsa, the guy is a liar unlike any other! He's tricking you," Anna insisted.

Elsa was quiet. What if Anna was right? If she was, of course, Elsa could break them out of this place as she had broken out of the dungeons back home, it would be as easy as anything, but still. Uneasily she looked out the dungeon window. Every part of her was telling her she shouldn't have done this, shouldn't have put so much weight on five words. Well, almost every part. A little flicker in her told her to hold onto hope. Hans did and said nothing, or very little, without a bigger purpose behind it. If he had used those words, it was for a reason. It _had_ to be… Please let it be so…

Frozen

"Well, the easy part is done," the Duke remarked to Hans and the two men that had remained with him. The ones he had sent to kill the queen in Arendelle, in fact. "Now for the difficult bit. Deciding the queen's execution method. Tonight in the evening should be as good a time as any."

"You call deciding her execution method difficult? Try fun," Hans replied. "Put the matter into _my_ hands, and I'll be sure she is killed in a way befitting a sorceress."

"You have some devious ideas, no doubt," the Duke replied, smiling amusedly at the prince and tenting his fingers. This promised to be interesting. If Hans had Lars's penchant for… unorthodox methods of dealing with criminals, then it would be quite creative too.

"I do," Hans answered. "But what are yours?"

"Beheading is obviously among them. Hanging would be too unreliable. Beheading, while gruesome, is more certain than either hanging or a firing squad would be. Burning at the stake would be befitting a witch, of course," the Duke said.

"If you're going witch hunt style, drowning her or pressing her to death with boulders would work as well," Hans said.

"You _are_ dark," the Duke remarked, smirking.

"You haven't heard anything yet," Hans answered. "Poisoning her would be amusing to watch, or forcing her to poison herself. There's always the gilded cradle. I've seen some of the devices used for torturous execution. The bass bull is among them, and the rack."

The Duke blinked, trying to process what he'd just heard. Well, those were certainly... unorthodox. Very much so. He shifted slightly uneasily. "Yes, well, now we're getting a bit extreme," the Duke muttered, in the process of thinking over just what was being discussed here. They were talking about the execution of a young woman. A queen no less. Sorceress or not, sentencing a person to death was never, or rarely, fun. The prince seemed giddy about the idea, but then he was a young man born to a dark and disturbing family line, so Hans's giddiness was understandable. Albeit disturbing. Deeply so.

"My Lord Duke, this woman is a threat to everything and everyone. Even to her own family. She's dangerous, wicked, and must be put down as though she were less than a dog. She has to be dealt with according to what she is. What she is, is a monster," Hans said, pacing slowly. "If you aren't willing to do what it takes to break her and finish her, let _me_ have at it. I'll make her regret she was born. I'll have her pleading for death soon enough."

The Duke eyed Hans silently, shifting slightly uncomfortably. "We will discuss the matter later. I think perhaps we should hold off the execution a few days, just to make sure all angles are taken care of," he finally said. He didn't know what angles he was talking about, but he was banking on Hans not pressing. It wasn't his business anyway. It wasn't as if _he'd_ ever have to deal with the duties of a ruler. He was doomed to be a prince the rest of his life. "Until then, go and make sure she's still imprisoned. Report back to me, when you've seen she is, and then we will talk, perhaps go down to see her again and inform her of her fate."

"If you insist, Dear Duke," Hans answered, bowing to the man. Turning on his heel, he marched swiftly towards the dungeons.

Frozen

"We can't just do nothing! We have to get out of here, Elsa! The Duke is going to have you killed. I won't let him take you from me. I'll die first!" Anna insisted, infuriated and distressed that her sister seemed disinclined to fight. Had this treachery broken her? She didn't even want to imagine how Elsa felt right now. "Please. Get us out."

"I will. When the time is right," Elsa answered. Namely when she knew for certain whether Hans had gone turncoat or was playing double agent. Triple agent? Footsteps were heard and sharply Elsa and Anna turned to the bars. After a moment Hans came into sight.

Anna's expression twisted into one of rage and murder. "You bastard!" she freaked, lunging at the bars. She looked ready to try and strangle him through them, so he stepped back as she grabbed at him.

"Feisty as ever, I see. And quick tempered. And stupid, if you honestly think you could have a hope in hell of killing me," Hans said. He could easily overpower Anna, he knew, considering there was no sneak attack or unexpected attack going on, like with the punch. In which case he could probably still overpower her with little effort, but not before she did a lot of damage. Probably too much.

"You should have…" Anna began.

"Died? Been shot? Been executed? I've heard it all before, princess, but here I stand," Hans said. "Should have's aren't going to get us anywhere."

"Come a little closer, Hans," Anna cooed. "I want to tell you something."

"I'm sure you want to tell me plenty," Hans replied dryly, eyes narrowing challengingly. He looked over to Elsa. "The Duke is talking about execution, as you've probably guessed."

"Oh yes, I meant to thank you for personally hand delivering me to him," Elsa wryly replied, sarcasm thinly veiled in her voice.

"You're welcome," Hans answered, frowning at her and ignoring the sarcasm. "I told you you'd get your audience, after all."

"Yes. Unfortunately you forgot to mention it wouldn't be to discuss the relations between the two countries," Elsa said.

"Did I? My mistake. Of course had I told you it was a trap, it would have lost its amusement value," Hans replied, smirking. She was sharp, he'd give her that. She always _had_ been.

"You'll never get away with this!" Anna shot.

"I'm not getting away with anything, Anna," Hans answered, glaring at her. He turned back to Elsa. "You know, he probably would have had you killed by tonight, if not for me."

"What do you mean?" Elsa questioned.

"I know things about the Duke and his past, Your Majesty, that you haven't begun to imagine. Dark things. Throwing in mentions of a few methods of execution involving severe torture, kind of made the idea of killing you taste bitter to him. Of course, that won't last long if you don't cooperate with me and play along."

"Play along? What do you mean play along?" Anna demanded.

"I told you I had a plan, princess. I meant it. I always do. The Southern Isles, and by extension me, gain a lot more from an alliance with Arendelle than they ever could have from an alliance with Weselton. Sure it might make battles on sea easier, if the Duke pulls out his ships, but in the end they're nothing we couldn't handle even if they put their whole naval force against us."

"Of course it would come back to you," Anna bitterly said, though she was calming down slightly. Was Hans saying he was really on their side after all? "You are the most selfish, self-centered, egotistical, sociopathic, _maniac_ I've ever known!"

"You flatter me, Anna," Hans said, smirking coldly and bowing at the waist. He looked to Elsa seriously again. "I can get you out of this. Both of you. And whatever comes of the plan will be a thousand times better than anything that could have been reached through discussion. The process, though, will be slow. And at times frightening. And definitely pretty emotional. If you're up to the task, though…"

"I am," Elsa stated before he could finish.

"Good. Then let me clear things up right now. I'm going to play the part of a perverse and lustful prince who wants nothing more than to have you at his mercy. Some of the things I say will be highly inappropriate and frankly pretty frightening. Not okay in any situation at all. I'm dead serious. I'm going to sound like a total creep, though how psycho sounding I get depends on the severity of the Duke's reaction. There may be touching. Nothing inappropriate, or if it is it won't be overly inappropriate—though I suppose if I so much as brushed your cheek you'd see it as too far—but enough of a touch that you may start to feel uncomfortable and a little uneasy. Maybe even scared."

"I can handle it," Elsa replied. "As long as my sister and I go free by the end of this."

"Freedom is the _least_ you'll come away from this with," Hans stated. "Play your parts convincingly, and things should fall into place, or start to."

"Alright," Elsa agreed after a moment. Hans nodded.

"I can't believe this. Can I punch him, please?" Anna said in exasperation suddenly, reminding them she was there. Elsa inwardly cringed, realizing she'd temporarily forgot Anna was still listening. She really had to stop getting lost in conversations, planning, and or battles of wit with Hans.

"Will you get over it?" Hans bit at her, frowning at the princess. "I'm helping you."

"In an extreme manner that you probably could have easily found a way around," Elsa replied.

"You're seriously chastising me for this?" Hans asked.

"Yes!" Elsa shot. "For all _you_ knew, I could have killed you for stabbing us in the backs like that. Treachery doesn't always have to be your go-to, Hans."

"No, but it's so much more amusing," Hans answered, smirking. What? He liked seeing reactions. Shoot him. "And it has a much stronger impact," he continued. "To get through the Duke's thick skull, a strong impact is what you're going to need. He won't be reasoned with otherwise. There's a reason he despises magic and magic wielders so much, your majesty, and it isn't something a man can just let go of. It's something he'll live with the rest of his life and suffer with. His prejudice is so deeply rooted now that had he been a younger man than he is, he probably would have gone after you _himself_ back when you fled Arendelle. And you _wouldn't_ have come back if things had worked his way."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked.

"If things go according to my plan, you'll figure it out soon enough," Hans answered, turning and walking away from the sisters.

"Hey, get back here! Hans!" Anna angrily shouted after him. He shut the door to the dungeons firmly and she growled in annoyance.

Frozen

Elsa was pondering the prince's words carefully. There was apparently something more to this vendetta against her than she'd realized. Now she was more curious than ever to know what it was. Anna turned to Elsa worriedly. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," Elsa answered. "There's always a deeper motive behind the things Hans does. If he's right and this is our way out, I'm taking it. Besides, it could be worse. He could have genuinely turned on us."

"And genuinely been a sicko," Anna added, smirking slightly, though the smirk was a little uneasy.

Elsa smiled. "But he isn't, and believe it or not, I honestly do believe he's ultimately on our side for this little game," she said. Hans did like to play both sides of the field, but in the end a side would have to be chosen, and she was willing to bet it would be theirs, because the prince was right. The Southern Isles gained more from Arendelle than they would from Weselton. Anna nodded, less inclined to put that kind of faith in Hans, but she would follow her sister's lead. She'd assumed the worst of the prince before and it had almost gotten Hans unjustly—though that was debatable given his first treachery—executed. This time she could hope for the best. What was the worst that could happen?

Inwardly Anna grimaced and wished she hadn't asked herself that. There was a _lot_ that could happen, and it was all horrible. She hoped Elsa knew what she was doing. She tried to convince herself to look at the bright side of things, but she would _never_ forget the way Hans had looked at her when he had left her to freeze to death. The glint in his eyes… There had been no sign or remorse, regret, pity, or anything. Only a sick sort of joy and satisfaction. A look of such bitterness… There hadn't been a man reflected in his eyes. There had been _nothing_ of a human there, and that was an image that would stick with her eternally. Then when he'd given that look again when they'd been imprisoned by the troll king… She shuddered visibly. She didn't want to see it again…

"Anna, it'll be okay. I promise. I won't let anything happen to you. If he ever tries to hurt you again, he'll pay with his life," Elsa vowed, breaking into her sister's thoughts. Anna turned vulnerably and saw the protectiveness and love in Elsa's eyes, and immediately her fears seemed to melt away. She gave a nervous smile and nodded, going to her sibling and hugging her.


	5. Then Put Your Pain on Me

Then Put Your Pain on Me

(A/N: Latter part of this chapter is another pretty emotional scene between Hans and Elsa. The earlier part not so much emotion, more dangerous curiosity and first introductions for both of them to a touch that is more than familial. Around the middle there's a short but emotional incident with Franz and Hans. This chapter is a bit less mild than it was originally, but given the story is now rated M I can afford to be a tad more descriptive from here. The Chapter is still within T+ range, possibly until later possibly not, but yeah.)

Hans and the Duke approached the dungeons. "Then the matter is settled. In three days' time, she will be brought out and beheaded," the Duke said to the prince.

"Three days to a week," Hans answered.

"Why wait so long before ending her? A week seems almost as if you're delaying," the Duke suspiciously said.

Hans gave him a look. Uptight little weasel, wasn't he? He smirked. "I am," he said.

"What for?" the Duke demanded, suspicion even more evident than before.

"You don't hide your thoughts on me well, you know. If I _was_ an enemy intending to play traitor, I would just kill you now for appearing so sure you were onto something," Hans remarked. "I'm delaying because have you _seen_ the woman?"

"I'm not sure I follow," the Duke replied, looking confused.

"Let me put it to you this way. Men would fight and die over that queen. They would bow and scrape and crawl on their stomachs for a chance to be with her. She's considered the ultimate prize, though I'm loathe to use that word to describe _anyone_." It wasn't that the term made her sound like an object, necessarily. If anything it made her sound like a precious treasure worth fighting for; but it just seemed inappropriate. When he heard the term prize, he associated it with the term goal. The thing with goals was that once they were achieved, you seemed to forget the preciousness of what you'd fought for. You started to take it for granted. You sat back and reaped the rewards and that was it. The achieved goal soon became a trophy. Bragging rights. A sort of 'spoils of war' thing. She was more than a prize to be won. She was _so_ much more.

"Your point is?" the Duke asked, breaking him from his thoughts. Hans blinked and realized just what said thoughts had been before repeatedly mentally kicking himself over and over for thinking that way.

"My Lord Duke, I may despise the woman but I'm not blind. Nor am I impervious to… let's say 'desires'. It isn't like _I'm_ ever going to be married off, and I really don't have much interest in marriage anyway. I _do_ , however, admit that I get curious at times. Add that to the fact I'd like nothing more than to see her beaten and broken before me, well, you know," Hans continued.

"No, I do not think I do," the Duke replied. But the way his eyes were narrowed and his arms were folded, the way he'd stopped walking and was now glaring at the prince, told Hans that he _did_ in fact know. He knew very well. Good. It meant he was primed. The Duke may have been a weasel, but he wasn't a pervert. Well, not to _that_ kind of degree, at least.

"Then I can't explain it to you," Hans replied, shrugging and continuing onwards. "I want my fun with her before she's disposed of. Leave it at that. And I'll _have_ my fun with her, wait and see." The Duke blinked after the prince, at a loss for what to think or do or how to react. In fact he seemed quite flustered, and suddenly uneasy.

"Yes, well, I'm afraid I can't agree with such a thing! Three days, no more. Besides, if you start getting, err, 'friendly', with the queen, there is a very real chance of attachment. Then there's the whole potential mess of you fighting to have her released via threats and what not, and it's all just a big drama we don't need, and…" the Duke quickly began to say, catching up to Hans.

"Dear Duke," Hans cut off, turning to him with an amused and cruel smirk on his lips. "When I tell you that there's no chance of an emotional attachment happening between us, I mean it. I want to rip apart every last thread of her innocence, rob from her everything she protects, see her broken and beaten and at my mercy. You aren't standing in the way of that, understood? I have my fun with the queen, perhaps the princess too if I fancy it, and Weselton avoids a losing battle with the Southern Isles."

The prince turned and started off again while the Duke was again frozen in place. This was working almost too well, Hans noted. He could almost _sense_ the man starting to drift more towards protective than murderous in regards to Elsa and Anna. The Duke of Weselton was close to being just where he needed to be for this plot to work. Ugh, Hans hoped it came sooner than later. He felt filthy and disgusting for even _playing_ a roll like this, and every word out of his mouth had tasted foul. Well, not every word. He _had_ fantasized about seeing her broken and beaten and at his mercy, just not in the way he'd implied to the Duke. Come to think of it, he hadn't fantasized such a thing for a _while_ now. He frowned to himself. When had he stopped desiring to see her a shadow of her former self and bowing at his feet? Whatever the matter of it, that wasn't what he needed to focus on. The dungeon doors were in front of them now. Time to turn the lustful prince mask up a notch.

Frozen.

Evening. No light filtered into the dungeon say for the slivers of moonlight that crept between the bars of the window. Elsa and Anna heard the dungeon doors open and swiftly looked towards the entrance to their cell. Anna, not chained as her sister had been, went to it and peered out. Her eyes widened. "It's them! Time to get started," she said quickly to her sister, falling back into position. She still didn't like the idea of said game. _At_ all.

Elsa fixed her gaze on the cell doors stoically and braced herself for revulsion. The idea of his hands anywhere on her body… She was almost willing to call this thing off and come up with some other plan. She didn't want him within even a foot of her _ever_ , and now there was a very real possibility he'd be right against her. Inwardly she cursed. She supposed she could just pretend it was some fictional king or prince who would one day sweep her off her feet and marry her and all that clichéd nonsense she usually scoffed at. Cliché now, however, suddenly seemed much more appealing. After all, if she could convince herself it was anyone but Hans, she might actually be able to take this. She needed a mental image of someone else. Someone she _wouldn't_ mind being with. She blushed when Mael's visage came to mind and cursed herself. She cursed herself again when the next picture she tried to come up with ended up being Iscawin. Alright, so much for _that_ plan. It seemed she would just have to take what came.

The Duke and Hans reached the cell door with candles. "Queen Elsa, in three days' time you will be executed," the Duke simply and curtly said with no modem of tact whatsoever. There was no point, after all, as far as he was concerned. What happened to her would happen, and sugar coating it wouldn't change the ultimate outcome.

"What?!" Anna exclaimed. "You can't do this, I won't let you!"

"The night before your sister's execution, you will be allowed to spend some time with her before we send you back to Arendelle," the Duke continued, ignoring Anna.

"You'll _never_ get your hands on my sister!" Anna shouted furiously.

The Duke's jaw twitched slightly and subtly, his eyes flickering elsewhere for a moment before returning to them. "I'm sorry, Princess, but it is said and done," he answered.

"Your last days, Elsa, will not be pleasant," Hand added.

"What do you mean?" Elsa icily asked, assuming this was the subtle cue that Hans was entering lustful and perverted prince mode. Now she had to play off of it. She didn't see what it would accomplish, but she would follow his lead. Of course, for all she knew it was an excuse of Hans's to have his hands on her, but she doubted highly the man wanted anything more to do with her than _she_ wanted to do with _him_. If anything, this plan was going to be as gag-inducing for the prince as it would be for the queen. There was a reason behind this. One she didn't know yet, but got a feeling she would learn soon enough.

Hans smirked chillingly. "Move Anna to another cell," he ordered. "I want some alone time with her Majesty. There are matters to be discussed."

"You aren't taking me away from my sister!" Anna shot. "I won't spend whatever time we have left apart from her!" Again a shift in the Duke's demeanor as he rocked from one foot to another uneasily.

"Then you'll be moved right back. When I'm done with her," Hans said.

"That is quite enough, Prince Hans. Remember who you are a guest of," the Duke said.

"Remember who has you under their thumb. You know Weselton won't hold up under an attack by the Southern Isles. Don't make me call in my brothers, my Lord Duke. You know it won't end well," Hans evenly threatened.

"I cannot let…" the Duke began.

"You have no choice!" Hans viciously shot, making the man jump back wide-eyed. The Duke blinked in shock. Hans harrumphed and turned to the cell, pulling out a key ring and unlocking it. Anna looked like she was ready to try and lunge either for him or for freedom, but she wasn't going to leave Elsa behind, and if Hans was on their side like Elsa suspected, lunging at him would only sabotage this whole plot. Said plot might be their only chance. It couldn't be thrown away.

Frozen

Hans entered the cell and went to Elsa. Anna moved to intervene. "Stay back," Elsa ordered her sister calmly, meeting and holding Hans's eyes defiantly. Anna paused, looking uneasy, and stepped back again almost fearfully.

The Duke shifted and moved cautiously into the cell to stand near to Anna's side. She looked worriedly at him then at her sister. "What's happening?" she fearfully asked as Hans began to circle Elsa like a predator.

"We need to go, Princess Anna. Now," the Duke seriously replied. Hans was right. Weselton wouldn't stand to the Isles, and he couldn't risk his land and all its subjects for his pride, or a Queen's honor for that matter.

"I won't leave Elsa!" Anna insisted.

"Keep her back," Elsa said to the Duke, eying Hans as he paced around. "Please, my Lord Duke." Again a subtle action from the Duke. He was wringing his hands tightly and clearing his throat more than usual.

"You seem afraid, Elsa," Hans practically purred. "Good. It's high time it happened." Elsa stayed still and quiet. She despised the seductive but dangerous lull he had slipped into his voice. Subtly she shivered in fear. _God_ she hoped it was fear. He hesitated to go further. Good, he was as repulsed at this as she was. They knew, though, it had to be done. Well, at least it would make it easier for them if it _was_ done. It didn't _have_ to be done, per say, they could still back out!

 _So why were neither of them taking the opportunity to put an end to this...?_

Maybe it had to do with this curiosity. She hated that thought immediately. He paused behind her, putting his hands on her arms and roughly, suddenly, drawing her close to his body. Closer than she was ever going to be okay with, she decided. "You have every reason to fear me," he murmured, more growled, against her ear. Softly he dropped a kiss on the lobe. The shudder again. Revulsion. It was revulsion.

 _Revulsion shouldn't make your knees feel weak..._

Eww. No. Just no. Change of thought right now.

 _You've never experienced a touch or an action like this..._

Alarm and unease filled her eyes. That wasn't the change of thought she wanted! Quickly she glanced over at her sister and the Duke, hoping to take her mind off of it. Anna was obviously highly uncomfortable with Hans's proximity to her sister. So was the Duke, apparently. "That's enough! Get away from her!" the man ordered sharply.

"If you don't like this, old man, then go away, because if you don't, you're going to be witnessing a lot more than kisses," Hans answered, nuzzling Elsa lightly. "We had our understanding."

"Assaulting the queen wasn't part of it!" the Duke angrily argued.

"Hmm…" he murmured. Defiantly and swiftly his hands slipped to her throat and hip. Clasping both, the prince pressed a kiss firmly against her neck. Not quite the back of, but not the side either. She gasped slightly as her body arched, taken aback by the unfamiliar sensation. Dammit, his lips burned her skin like hot coals; and it wasn't a figure of speech. They literally burned, which was slightly unsettling to be sure, and intriguing.

 _She willed him to do it again…_

So she could be sure! She willed him to do it again so she could be sure she'd felt what she'd felt. "You try my patience, Duke," Hans warned, withdrawing his lips from her neck while his hand remained caressing her throat in a very… intimate manner. A chill was filling the air, and frost spread across the prince's fingertips as Elsa's feelings - what _were_ her feelings on this? She didn't know what it was she was experiencing - became more pronounced.

Frozen

The Duke, near livid at this point, and Anna, now fidgeting and looking about ready to throw this whole plan to the side and rip out the prince's pretty eyes, were very uneasy. "Step away from the Sorceress, boy," the Duke warned.

"Bite me," Hans replied with a sneer, the hand on her hip now slipped around to her stomach as he began to gently rock her before pressing a third kiss to her jawline. She let out an audible and shuddering breath. She _refused_ to say it was a sigh. He shivered on hearing it. She felt him. Felt him and heard him subtly catch his breath. She could practically sense him willing away any sort of reaction to her own.

 _She should not be desiring more. She should not be resisting the urge to give into him and kiss back just to see what it would be like or what his reaction would be. She should not be feeling so aroused by her enemy that she was physically uncomfortable and agitated._

It _was_ arousal, she knew. There was no point in denying it, as much as she wanted to. She was attracted. _Very_ attracted. Gods, the sexual tension was stifling. Smothering. Filled the air with such a potency that she didn't even know what to think of it. It all but crackled between them as his hand trailed lightly up and down her body, tracing her form. Judging by Anna's appalled and worried expression, and the Duke's deep flushing, the two of them felt the change in the air all too well. She almost forgot she was chained. She almost forgot anyone else was here. She hated herself for these foreign feelings coursing through her. She didn't know or understand what they were. She didn't know how to handle them. All she knew was that they were signs of desire. She would _not_ say lust. She found it easier to handle when she consoled herself with the knowledge that being aroused by someone didn't mean you liked or even cared about them. She despised the prince and the prince despised her and that was it…

 _But this game… You want it to go on..._

No! That wasn't true. She wanted it to stop now! "Stop it," she whispered. Barely whispered. She hated how her voice cracked harshly, almost as if she were choking. "Please… please, stop it."

He was silent and frozen in place. It was enough for her to realize that he felt it too, and he was every bit as uncomfortable with it as she was now. Neither of them heard the Duke blustering something about calling the guards if Hans didn't back off or some other such thing. They never heard Anna saying that whatever was going on had gone far enough and ordering Hans away from her sister. They were only aware of this and the wrongness of it.

 _And of how curious both of them suddenly were about what it would be like to go further…_

Hans immediately kicked himself for the thought and released the Queen, who let out a shaky gasp as her knees buckled in her fear and relief. The Duke swiftly moved with Anna, catching her and holding her up. "Get out!" the Duke furiously roared at Hans. "Guards!"

"I heard you!" Hans sharply snapped, already heading out of the cell at a quicker pace than he had any right going. He just knew he had to get away. He had to get far, far away from this and from her and from everything that had just occurred and pretend it hadn't happened. He might take a page from Franz's book and drink until all memory of this event was gone bye, bye. He could drink to forgetfulness. It wasn't as if he was a heavyweight or anything. It might take maybe three or four strong drinks.

 _Her skin, so cold and soft beneath his fingers…_

Make it five. Heck, six. He practically broke into a run, glad he was out of their line of sight by now. He had to get away from this place. Damn arousal and lust. Damn it to hell. He wished he were asexual. He didn't hate her any less, but now in addition to hate there was the realization he could feel aroused by her and that _could_ not end well. Not for him, not for her, not for anyone. Best to erase all memory of desire and rip this dark and dank page in their history out. Burn it, for good measure, so it never came back. Lust was as much a weakness as love, he decided.

Frozen

"Elsa?" Anna fearfully and worriedly asked as she and the Duke sat her sister down on the prison bench. Elsa seemed to be having trouble catching her breath and breathing, and her skin was flushed a deeper red than Anna could ever remember seeing. "Elsa, it's over. He's gone now," Anna assured.

"I never should have let it get so far. The next time that young pup dares come within one-hundred feet of this dungeon, he will pay for it with the loss of a limb or with the loss of his life. He may beat you to the chopping block yet," the Duke said. "His behavior will not be tolerated or let go of without punishment."

"N-No, it-it's done. It's okay. As long as he's kept far away, I'll be fine. You need pass no punishment on him," Elsa answered, slowly but steadily getting her breath back. She inhaled deeply then sighed, composing herself. She turned to the Duke of Weselton. "Thank you, your highness, for standing up for me. But why _did_ you?"

The Duke was silent, suddenly. Both Anna and Elsa looked curiously at him, waiting for an answer. He stayed quiet. After a moment he cleared his throat and stood up straight. "When you live to be as old as I have, you'll know why. I have a plethora of bad and wicked memories to my name, my dears. There is more pain in them, at this point, than there is joy anymore. I have lost many loved ones and friends along the road. The whole situation reminded me of two of those I lost. That is all you need know. The prince will not assail you again, your Majesty. I will send the warden to switch your shackles and give your hands a little freedom before they are encased again." Was it a stupid idea? Yes. The ice queen could break free without even a second thought if her hands were freed. But then she'd broken free without a second thought when they'd been encased _before_. If she hadn't freed herself yet, she wasn't going to, though why he had no idea, albeit he had a suspicion. Offering no more, the man turned and left, locking the cell behind him and leaving the two sisters to watch uneasily and curiously after him, wondering what he'd meant and not sure they wanted to know the answers. Some mysteries were best left untouched… But they found they wanted _this_ one solved…

Frozen

Hans released the pigeon that now carried the message he'd written to Franz, directing his brother to meet him in Weselton. This may end up getting big enough that it would be smart to have another brother around just in case. Why did it have to be the most unreliable one? Granted when it came down to crunch time Franz got his game together damn quick, but his procrastination and nonchalance just made catching up harder for him. Of course this wasn't paperwork or plans. It was just a summons. Franz happened to be the brother on sea closest to Weselton, at the moment. He'd sailed with Eric, and Eric was in the general vicinity of Weselton, making sure their fleets had retired to dock for the rest of this war. Now it was a matter of convincing the Duke to let his sibling come.

Hans knew that the only reason the Duke hadn't locked him up was because of the 'treachery' he'd set up for Elsa in delivering her into the old man's hands. Franz wouldn't be so lucky. He had to talk the Duke into believing that Franz was on their side. That, or something more believable and devious. It would mean more control for the Southern Isles if he could convince the Duke that he'd made his brothers believe he was Weselton's captive. Then he could tell the old man that letting Franz come here would open up negotiations with the Southern Isles that could end the war in Weselton's favor. A pack of lies, of course, but by the time the Duke figured _that_ one out, it would probably be too late. Everything was falling into place. It was complex, but nothing he couldn't handle or hadn't handled before. He would feel it out and improvise the plot as needed. The captive ruse wouldn't last long, no doubt, or maybe it would, but either way it would be enough to get Franz Neb here.

Hans checked the time and pursed his lips. He had to get down to Elsa and Anna and discuss further stages of the plan. Franz's presence would make getting to them again easier as well, because the Duke could be convinced Franz had him on a short leash. It probably would be the last time he could get away with going down there, but they'd see. It was crucial now. He and the Queen and Princess needed to work on putting the nails in the coffin, so to speak. This plan hinged on not only the Duke's emotional state, but theirs as well. That was something he hadn't discussed with them because he knew they'd refuse. He had to pull the strings from behind, in the stage of this plot that involved the sisters. It was a two-way street and they had to be as oblivious to their deeper role in this as the Duke was. Having worked some things out, and having resolved to improvise what he hadn't set up, Hans nodded to himself and left his room to find the Duke and discuss the matter of Franz with him.

Frozen

"What?!" the Duke said, shocked.

"I won't repeat myself, my Lord Duke. You heard me just fine," Hans answered. "Let my brother come ashore in Weselton, play it like I'm your captive, and Weselton is going to come out of this war far, far better off than they were on entering into it because of your foolish pride."

"Why are you so eager to help?" the Duke guardedly asked, letting the dig about his pride slide.

"Because what benefits you benefits me," Hans answered.

"In what way?" the Duke asked.

"In that I get the satisfaction of seeing my brothers squirm," Hans answered. "I get the satisfaction of seeing Caleb brought down a peg. It's a spite thing. Given you don't have twelve older brothers, you wouldn't understand. Suffice it to say, _that_ reward is good enough for me. Seeing my siblings out of their comfort zone gives me a sort of sick delight. A high I like holding onto and reliving over and over."

The Duke was quiet a long moment. Hans subtly crossed his fingers, hoping for the best. The Duke was proving cleverer than he'd thought during the time he'd spent with the man. Clever, but stubborn and quite set in his ways, and very proud. At times even careless and absent minded despite his cleverness. It might be enough to slip this manipulation under the radar. "Very well," the Duke finally relented.

Hans inwardly cheered. He bowed to the Duke. "I'll return to my room, you lock me in, Franz comes, you milk this for all it's worth then send him to me squirming," Hans said to the man. With that he turned and went back to his bedroom to pretend he was a prisoner. Franz was sharper than most gave him credit for, and frankly all the brothers were chameleons in their own rights, some less than others, but ultimately it would be enough for Franz to spot the ruse, most likely, and play off of it. You knew your family, and all that. Franz would more likely than not catch onto his modus operandi, or get the feeling something was up. He'd know to play along. When Franz was sent up, he'd explain the basics of this plan to him. It was likely his brother would arrive some time tomorrow morning. Then they could discuss matters.

Frozen

Hans stood by the window of his room, overlooking Weselton and sipping at a brandy. He wasn't a fan of any form of alcohol, this one among his least favorite of all time, but alcohols seemed to be the only think the Duke had in this place and so he'd have to deal with it. Given when he knew of the Duke's past, he couldn't say he was surprised that hard liquor, wines, and beers were the predominant drinks in the castle. He was willing to bet that there were multiple tragic anniversaries the Duke disappeared for. Probably drinking away the pain or some other such thing, and leaving his advisors to rule for a day or two.

There was a knock at the door. "I'm here!" he called. After a few seconds, he heard the outside lock click and the door was opened.

"You will not lock the prince in again. Now that I'm here, I'll do the job of keeping him in check well enough," Franz commanded a guard, exuding his royal authority as he walked inside the room. First time Franz had acted like a prince by choice for a while now. Usually he acted like a partier. Hans put down the brandy and turned to watch his brother.

"Yes, your Royal Highness," the Weselton soldier replied, bowing to the man. With that he left, shutting the door.

Franz waited until the footsteps faded, then dropped the royal aura and turned to Hans, a wicked smirk parting his lips and a mischievous look lighting up his eyes. Hans blinked, taken aback by the wolfish look. "Uh, Franz?" he asked.

"You. You _dog_ you," Franz said, approaching an obviously confused Hans and placing his hands on his brother's shoulders, playfully shaking him once. "I was beginning to lose hope for you!" He laughed, pulling his brother near and noggin rubbing him.

"Hey, let go! Back off, bro!" Hans insisted, squirming away and fixing his hair in annoyance. "What's wrong with you?!"

"Oh you know full well why I'm so giddy," Franz said.

"No, I don't! Please enlighten me," Hans demanded, eyes narrowing.

"Don't play dumb, Hans. The Duke told me of your little… 'interaction' with Queen Elsa," Franz said." Hans started and rapidly blinked before he found himself blushing ridiculously.

"Whatever he said, there was a reason I did it, I swear!" Hans said.

"Why are you trying to excuse yourself? I couldn't be happier! I was beginning to think there was no hope for you," Franz answered.

"What?" Hans asked.

"Your first sexual experience ever, Hans!" Franz said with a laugh.

Hans blushed deeper. "It wasn't an experience!" he immediately blustered.

"You're right. Sexual awakening is more like it. Judging by her own reaction to it—the Duke filled me in—it was _her_ awakening too," Franz said.

"Go wash your mouth out with soap! And your brain too!" Hans immediately yelled, still blushing like crazy and hating every second of it. He wished he could get a handle on the blushing. "It wasn't an awakening! It wasn't an _anything_!"

"Were you aroused?" Franz asked.

"I-I…" Hans stammered. "That's none of your business!"

"You were! Was there a… reaction?" he questioned.

Hans's blush deepened, if possible, and he groaned, burying his face in his hands. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. "Summoning you was the biggest mistake of my life," he said, dragging his hands down his face and glaring angrily at his sibling. "There was no 'reaction', you depraved bastard! I kept thinking of dead horses and other such assorted things. I kept control of myself and my anatomy, and it's none of your business anyway! Why are we even _discussing_ this?!"

"My baby brother's growing up! I'm so proud. You don't even know!" Franz said, clasping his hands together in an exaggerated sign of pride, a wide grin on his face.

"Get out!" Hans shouted. "When you get over your 'pride' and curiosity, we'll talk!"

"How did her body feel against yours? How did it feel, running your hands down _that_ frame, playing them up that _leg_. How did her skin feel beneath your fingers?" Franz pressed.

"Get! Out!" Hans yelled, throwing the still filled brandy glass at his sibling.

Franz gasped, dodging just in time and cringing as it shattered, looking back at it. He grinned again, turning tauntingly to Hans. "It's just a question. The sooner you answer, the sooner I go."

"If you're so desperate for answers, why don't you go down and try it yourself?" Hans demanded.

"Because _I_ might end up falling in lust with her," Franz answered. "You, on the other hand, are safe from that. As long as you don't try anything against her will, we're fine here."

"Oh, I don't think you'll fall in _anything_ with her. All of us know you never really got over that gypsy—or was she Arabic? I can't remember—slave girl," Hans said in an icy and honestly slightly cruel and taunting tone, folding his arms.

Frozen

The change in Franz was immediate. It went from wolfish to shocked, then uneasy, then flashed through a look of pain and regret, and then suddenly realization. Franz folded his arms, eyes narrowing and lighting up. This time, though, not with mirth. It was a cold glare, in fact angry. In fact Hans's bravedo disappeared immediately as he realized, in that moment, that he'd crossed the wrong line. Franz wasn't shy about getting violent, if he was pushed. Rage and hatred were quickly overwhelming mere anger, and now there was fear reflected in Hans's expression as he stepped back uneasily, right up to the window. If he could have, he would have jumped from it, but as it was that meant certain death. He considered which would be the worse of two evils for a moment before deciding to take his chances with Franz. Franz wasn't in an angry drunk state, just angry. Angry he could handle.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to bring her…" Hans began. He cried out in terror and alarm as Franz covered the distance between them in less than a heartbeat, slamming his little brother up against a wall and punching him viciously in the gut once, twice, three times, four times. Hans cried out in pain, doubling over and trying to struggle free. "Franz, please!" Hans begged frantically, thrashing to try and get loose.

Franz wouldn't hear him. Viciously he pulled his little brother from the wall and threw him down onto the ground, climbing on top of him in order to pin him in place. "Don't you _ever_ bring her up to me again, do you understand?! Don't you _ever_!" he furiously shouted, slamming his sibling's head against the floor violently. Hans saw spots and was fairly certain he's started to bleed from the head. At least it took his mind off of the pain he felt in his abdomen. Franz dragged him to his feet, holding his collar tightly. "Mention that woman again and I'll beat you until you're vomiting blood and your body is a pulp! Remember when the twins did that to you? Huh? Wasn't fun, was it Hans? Or hey, maybe I'll go easy on you and just lash you to a post and whip you with a cat-o-nine-tails the thickness of a bullwhip. Jürgen had a _field_ day with that. I'm damn sure you _still_ have the scars."

Hans suddenly realized he was shaking, traumatic memories coming back in force and reminding him all too painfully of why he hated his brothers and had so desperately wanted to escape them. In a desperate act of self defense, he drew his knife and stabbed blindly and viciously with a yell, hoping he hit something vital and at the same time hoping he didn't. The knife buried itself into Franz-Neb's side, right up to the hilt. Franz cried out, dropping him and staggering back, holding the injury in shock. Hans took the opportunity to get out of there as fast as he could, bolting.

Franz clutched the injury in pain, sinking against the wall with a gasp. As the haze of anger began to clear up in wake of the pain, it hit him what he'd just done to his sibling and threatened him with. Suddenly all pain and anger was forgotten, giving way to regret, self-loathing, and worry. "Hans!" Franz called out, staggering up and hoping his brother heard. He hurried to the door and looked out. "Hans, wait! Come back! I didn't mean…" There was no point in calling, he realized. Hans was long gone, and he found himself in a sea of remorse wishing that Hans had struck to kill.

 _His little brother had never struck to kill… Not against them. Not even when he_ _ **should**_ _have, for his own sake and safety…_

Franz grimaced, feeling the blood starting to ooze. He needed to get this knife pulled out of him and the injury treated. Then he needed to find Hans. No matter what it took, he needed to find Hans. He had to apologize.

 _To make an excuse…_

At least to Hans it would be an excuse. So maybe this time he should just stick with I'm sorry. No defense, no saying, 'but I', just sorry… If he said just sorry, maybe Hans would actually hear him for once. It had been a long, long time since Hans had heard any of them… It had been a long, long time since _any_ of them had heard any of the others…

Frozen

Hans ran through the palace, ignoring every call to him or surprised exclamation. He just knew he needed to get out. He realized they were probably concerned about the bleeding gash on his head, but he wasn't up to dealing with explaining it to them. If he stopped, the first person he talked to would end up dead, mutilated, and dismembered. He felt like drawing his sword or gun and cutting down everyone who tried to get in his way, and in fact was already actively trying to resist the urge to do so just so he could see someone suffer and bleed.

He raced outside into the courtyard and slammed the door behind him violently. He leaned against it, trying to catch his breath and will away the feelings of hatred and resentment and fear and hurt and whatever else it was he was feeling that he couldn't identify in this high emotional state. He needed to work out the pent up frustration on something, or it would be an innocent who suffered. He shouldn't be taken aback by Franz's actions. He knew he shouldn't. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to it. Franz had been _right_ up there with father's go-to men. His brute squad, in a sense. Said brute squad had been Duach and Rhun, Jürgen, and Franz. On occasion Connyn, if Franz wasn't in the mood to act as an enforcer or get so drunk that he'd be willing to. Of course the middle prince only really needed to get drunk if the brute squad's orders were against any of their siblings that Franz wasn't angry with. If you were the average stranger or subject on a street, he was gung-ho.

Hans drew a shaky breath. For a time _he'd_ been on father's 'brute squad' too. Right up until he'd secured permission from the man to go to Arendelle to represent the Isles. He looked around the courtyard and spotted a training dummy. Resentment and anger overwhelmed him again. He whipped out his sword and marched quickly and dangerously towards it. Better to let out the anger on a dummy than a slave or prisoner, after all. _Much_ better.

 _Those men had not deserved to die like that…_

His march turned into a sprint, and his eyes fixed on the target.

 _Try to outrace the thought, try to outrace the memories, try to outrace the monster…_

He couldn't outrace the monster. He couldn't! He wasn't even sure if he had it in him to try anymore. He just wanted to give up and let it consume him! It wasn't like it could do any harm, after all. So he lived a shorter life. So he died a black spot in human history. Who _cared_?! He would be dead!

 _You never wanted to become your brothers or your father… But you did…_

The blade was immediately driven into the body of the dummy. God he _hoped_ it was a dummy. He hoped he hadn't snapped and started seeing people as training dummies to kill. He didn't feel the warmth of blood, so that was a good sign. But then he'd never been able to feel it before. Not for years.

 _Begging for mercy, pleading, bargaining, weeping, throwing themselves at your feet, offering themselves as slaves. Did you spare_ _ **any**_ _of them? Or was there truly nothing of a human left in you to show that sort of mercy?_

Hacking and slashing. He doubted this dummy had taken a punishment quite like this in all its existence. He hardly noticed. He just struck in a frenzy, barely registering the stuffing pouring out and limbs coming off.

 _It wasn't as if it would have been hard to lie to father. He cared about keeping the Isles alive and keeping the economy going, not about the people as individuals… You could have spared them… You never_ _ **did**_ _!_

With a vicious war cry he struck violently, taking off the dummy's head and sending it flying towards the walls of the castle. He paused, looking after it as the straw fell all around him and his vision began to clear. He registered, or started to register, that all that was left of the mannequin now was strips of tattered leather and cloth, and some last bits of stuffing clinging on. He eyed the head as it rolled to a stop at a dungeon window and was silent.

 _You did… You spared them. At least some. Your father never knew. You paid the overdo tax out of your own pocket because they were children. Orphans. The eldest had to be no older than you, left to care for all his siblings along with the eldest sister… Father said no one would miss them… He was right, but you didn't care. You did it again and again and again afterwards; every time you came to a home where there was a child or children in the picture. Don't you see? There was still humanity in you. There is._

No there wasn't, Hans inwardly answered. Finally he managed to get enough control of his body to force his legs to move and go towards the dummy's head, leaving the remains behind.

 _That could have been your brother…_

He inwardly shuddered at the thought. He stopped in front of the head and didn't move. After a time he fell to his knees next to it and picked it up in his hands, looking it over almost curiously. Franz's words returned to him, and with them a plethora of memories he'd long thought he'd locked away never to look back on. He closed his eyes tightly, scowling, then rose, threw down the head, and kicked it as far away as possible, glaring after it. "Damn you!" he shouted after it. "Damn you," he said again, closer to a murmur as he slid down the palace wall to sit on the ground. "Damn _me_ …" he whispered to himself.

Frozen

A chill in the air. He slowly looked up, confused a moment. It was bright and sunny out. Why was there a chill? Unless… "Hans?" a voice said. He shuddered and glanced over to the dungeon window next to him. He knew that voice. Elsa. So then he was outside of their cell... He thought about answering then decided it was probably best for everyone if he kept quiet. He leaned his head back against the wall.

"What do you want?" he replied. Why had he answered, he inwardly groaned? There was no reason to. He'd literally just told himself not to.

There was silence. Good. Maybe she'd taken the hint in his tone and decided not to pursue this farther. "What happened?" she asked suddenly.

He cursed her under his breath. "It doesn't matter to you," he answered. "What happened is between me and my brother and a past I wish I could forget."

Silence again. Then… "You did a number on that dummy," she remarked. Not in a prying way, more casually if anything, but at the same time not. An observation, maybe?

 _A way to let you know someone is there, even if she doesn't want to be… She is there because she knows you have no one else…_

"Damn your pity," he finally replied. "Why are you speaking to me, Elsa?"

Again quiet. As if she hesitated to say anything at all. He couldn't blame her, honestly… "You know why," she answered.

It was his turn to be quiet. Perhaps it wasn't awkwardness at all. She was doing what he was now. Judging how to answer, choosing words carefully, thinking of what to say to make it seem okay and not set the other off or make things hostile again. "I guess I do…"

Inside the cell, Elsa looked down sadly. "What happened?" she questioned again gently.

"I was reminded of the sort of men the Westergaards are," Hans replied. He sighed, closing his eyes. "It was a situation that escalated… Escalated and re-established just how much I'm worth to them."

"They love you," Elsa said quietly, leaning her head against the cell wall where she stood.

"Oh do they now? Franz threatened to beat me until I was vomiting blood and was little more than a pulp. Incidentally, a few years back that _did_ happen at the hands of the twins."

"He was just…" Elsa began.

"He then threatened to lash me to a post and whip me with a cat 'o ninetails the thickness of a bullwhip. Incidentally Jürgen's trademark," Hans said.

Elsa was quiet, eyes downcast. "But he wouldn't have," she finally said.

Hans was quiet. " _They_ did; and Franz has done things like that before," he soon answered. "How can you be so sure he wouldn't have followed through?"

"I can't," she admitted. "And maybe I'm wrong, maybe he would have… But he loves you all the same…"

"Love is a subjective term," he said.

"He loves you," she repeated.

"Show me how he loves me," Hans answered.

"That isn't mine to show," Elsa replied.

"Then it's no good to me. Words are only words," Hans said.

"They don't know how to show you in any other way," she said.

"Then it seems this will go on until the day we die," Hans replied.

Elsa was quiet, looking ahead at nothing. "Why won't you hear me?" she soon asked.

"I hear you, my lady queen," he answered.

"But you won't listen," she said. Hans stayed quiet. "How can they open up to you if you won't let them?" she asked.

"This doesn't all fall back on me," Hans replied.

"I never said it did," Elsa said. "It works both ways. How can you open up to them if they won't let you? How can they open up to you if _you_ don't let them? What does it matter? The question remains."

Hans said nothing for a moment. "We can't," he finally replied. Not as long as they were all as shut off as they were. "I'm in no place to talk about this now. Please... Don't speak of me or them anymore..."

Frozen

She reached up to the bars and wrapped a now freed hand around one, though she didn't turn to look out the window. She remained with back against the wall as she thought. If she could no longer speak of him... "Then I'll speak of me," she remarked.

Hans lifted his head slightly, looking ahead at nothing. With a sigh, he answered, "And I'll hear you." It didn't always have to be him leaning on her. For all of the times she had let him lean on her, he owed here this much. And more. She nodded, though she knew he couldn't see, and thought on her words. She was glad Anna was still asleep this early in the morning. She loved her sister dearly, but this wasn't something she wanted to share with her. Or anyone.

 _So why are you sharing it with him...?_

"How can you show love to someone when they don't want to be loved?" she asked suddenly.

Hans tensed slightly. "Are you asking the question of me or yourself?" he replied after a moment.

A puzzled frown crossed her face as her eyes filled with confusion. "Maybe both," she answered.

"Do you not want to be loved, Elsa?" Hans asked.

"I do, it's just..." she began. She trailed off. Maybe this had been a bad idea.

"You don't feel you deserve it," he noted quietly.

She closed her eyes, the words hitting her all too painfully. "Yes," she finally admitted. It seemed confiding in him wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"I know what that's like..." he murmured.

"I feel so alone," she said. "Even when I'm not."

He was quiet, looking at her hand holding the bars. After a moment, and against his better judgement, he reached out and held the same bar, his hand brushing hers. Linking with hers. "I know… I feel it too…" he replied.

"I fight alone," she remarked, tilting her head absently to look at their hands, entwined around the bars. "I don't want to."

"You don't have to," Hans said.

"But I _do_ ," she replied.

"You can't help a person who doesn't want to be helped," Hans remarked. "So maybe it's time you decide you want to be helped. You have loved ones who would stand with you, and you still hide. You hide because you don't want their aid or don't feel deserving of it, but that is a lie you tell yourself… I know because I do it too… The difference is I _have_ no one to lean on because my brothers… they don't know _how_ to help… They don't know how because they can't even help _themselves_ let alone their siblings."

"I know I need to make that choice, to want to be helped. I know my sister loves me, and my friends, and my servants, and that they would do anything for me to make me feel alright again... But part of me still feels so empty and hollow inside and like shutting it all out…" she said. She trailed off for a moment. "Love was supposed to be enough," she finally murmured, voice breaking. "Enough to make me feel whole and right again… It didn't… It helped, but it didn't make the emptiness go away completely."

"It didn't because love isn't the be all and end all… It should be, but it isn't… Some wounds go deeper than love can heal easily…" Hans said.

"It feels selfish, what I'm doing. Selfish because my sister loves me so much, and even though I'm trying, it never seems like enough and I just… Sometimes I want to run again and never come back," Elsa said. "It goes beyond me, though, and what I want. It touches Anna and Kristoff and everyone who has ever cared about me and I know that I have to stay… Yet I can't speak to them, I won't let them help, I won't do anything but internalize and hide and wish I could just…"

"Disappear," Hans finished. "Forever."

She was quiet. "Yes," she finally replied. "Forever… You feel it too, don't you?"

"I do," he murmured. "So, so well..."

Frozen

There was silence again between them. Soon, though, he said, "You love your sister. You love your friends. You love your people… Love may not be the be all and end all, but it can be enough to drive you to keep on fighting and trying and reaching."

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "I want to be helped…" she soon murmured. "I finally want to be helped… But I don't know _how_ to be. To put that pain on my sister…"

"It will be more painful still if you one day disappear and don't come back," Hans said.

"She's so cheerful and optimistic… I don't think she'd know how to help even if I _did_ open up to her," Elsa said. "I don't… I don't want her to suffer…"

"Then put your pain on _me_. Put it on me, and I will help you as best I can," Hans murmured softly.

She was quiet. "We're enemies," she finally answered.

"We are," he agreed. "And will always be… But of all the people you know, I'm the only one you aren't afraid to hurt that could also understand…"

"You already fight your own battle alone. You don't need to help me fight mine," she said.

"You won't be alone if I do," he pointed out.

"But you _will_ … So if I let you into my war, you have to let me into yours," she replied.

"I haven't decided I _want_ to be helped," he answered.

"You don't believe you deserve to be," she corrected.

"And I don't," Hans stated.

"Then why am I here, returning in kind the help you've offered me?" she asked. He was quiet. "Neither of us need to fight alone anymore." He closed his eyes tightly and gave no answer. From above, in a window, Franz lingered out of sight and closed his eyes tightly, heart aching in his chest and guilt tearing through him. With a shaky breath he pulled away from listening in. He needed to go to his brother.

Frozen

There was silence a very long time. "Hans?" Elsa questioned.

"I'm still here. I'm still awake," he said. "You feel my hand over yours. You hear my breathing." She closed her eyes, head leaning against the cell wall, his own head resting against it as well on the other side.

"I feel your pulse beating against mine," she murmured. "I sense your pain… Are you frightened?" she asked.

He was quiet. "Yes…" he finally answered.

"So am I," she said. "Of all of this… So why aren't we running from it?"

He was quiet. "Because we have nowhere to run anymore. Neither of us. As much as we want to," he answered.

"And all roads lead back to here. This moment. Each other… There's no one else we feel we can turn to…" she noted.

"There's no one else we feel we _deserve_ to turn to…" Hans added.

"A cruel irony. A curse… To find your respite and relief in an enemy…" she mused.

Hans nodded and looked up. He caught his breath, grip on the bar, and by extension her hand, tightening. "He's coming," he said. "My brother."

"I'm here," she answered, tightening her own grip reassuringly. Hans stayed still, eyeing Franz icily.

Frozen

Franz approached Hans and stopped a good few feet away from him, just looking. "I needed to find you," he soon said.

"Come to finish the job?" Hans asked.

"No… I came to apologize," Franz replied.

"No more excuses, Franz," Hans said with a tired sigh.

"There are no excuses this time," Franz replied. "I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…"

Hans waited, expecting an add-on or a 'but'. None came. "You're serious," he finally said.

"I am. And all I can say is I'm sorry," Franz said. "I wish I knew what else to do, what else to say to try and make this better… But I don't…"

"I know… It'll do, brother… Thank you…" Hans said. Franz nodded. Hans turned to the cell window. "I'll be down to see you and Anna in a while, probably tonight, and discuss the next step in this plan. And the most crucial. It'll probably be the last time I can get down to you two, so hopefully I get across everything I need to then."

"We'll expect you," Elsa answered, withdrawing her hand from his almost reluctantly but at the same time in relief.

Hans nodded. "Get some rest, Elsa. You don't need to fear yourself or your thoughts right now," he said, standing. He moved towards his brother and said, "Let's get back inside." Franz nodded, smiling again. Hans preferred it when Franz smiled. It didn't seem the same when he didn't. Hans smiled back and headed towards the castle entrance with his sibling.


	6. To Crack a Duke's Barriers

To Crack a Duke's Barriers

(A/N: I feel like I've been so busy that my writing quality is slipping and letting down my readers. Story likely isn't as good as the others, a combination of life getting in the way and depression and lack of motivation. Hopefully I start to improve again. Anyway, the dream/nightmare cross that Elsa discusses with Hans, while disturbing, has quite a lot of symbolism to it beneath the surface of what it was. Symbolism neither of them fully recognize yet, regarding their emotional states and fears and uncertainties in the wake of all that's been happening that has pushed them closer than they ever wanted to be. Around the sixth story, or even the fifth, they'll start to begin to identify the deeper connections and emotions that are going on or threatening to grow. The dream nightmare sort of reflects Elsa's confusion on the matter.)

"Emotional talk," Franz noted, observing his brother's lost in thought and tired expression.

"Yeah," Hans answered. "Keep the Duke busy then say you let me go to the dungeons. He'll probably freak out at you, but assure him you have it under control."

"Which he'll disagree with," Franz pointed out.

"Yeah, but when he goes down and sees nothing has happened, you can rub it in his face more," Hans said.

"I do like rubbing it in," Franz mused. "It'll be taken care of," he assured, exiting Hans's room with Hans. The two separated and went to do their parts.

Frozen

Hans pushed open the dungeon doors and walked down into them. Get in, lay out the next step of the plot, and get out. It would be simple. He ran over the basics in his head again and took a breath, reaching the cell the royal sisters had been kept in. He looked inside and started at what he saw. Elsa was crying silently, Anna worriedly holding her sister's arms. "Elsa, shh, it's okay, I promise it's okay," Anna said, voice breaking and tears burning her eyes. "It was just a dream. Only a dream."

"What happened?" Hans demanded.

The sisters gasped in fright, turning quickly and looking at him with wide eyes. Anna recovered quickly enough, and a look of anger and appall crossed her face. Elsa's fearful expression remained, but with it a tinging of red across her cheeks. "You! Don't ever touch my sister again! Don't even _speak_ to her again, you bastard!"

Hans started. "Excuse me?!" he demanded, eyes narrowing viciously. "What are you even talking about?!"

"If you come within three feet of Elsa, a punch is the last thing you'll have to worry about, prince of the Southern Isles," Anna said, shaking in anger with fists clenched tightly at her sides.

"Stop it, Anna," Elsa said. "It was just a dream, not reality."

"Dream?! Try nightmare!" Anna replied. Elsa said nothing. Anna didn't seem to notice, just turned her wrath on Hans again. "Don't come near her."

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?!" Hans demanded. He'd gathered it had to do with some nightmare, probably about him, but for Anna to react like _this_? Of course Anna usually was fiery, and tended to overreact, and she _did_ despise him with a passion already, but still!

"It's none of your business!" Anna said.

"Anna, enough," Elsa firmly ordered, frowning warningly at her sister as she composed herself.

"But…" Anna began.

"Enough," Elsa repeated. "I'll handle it."

Anna looked from Elsa to Hans and back uneasily. Soon, though, she sighed and nodded, relenting. She moved away to go sit on one of the cell benches and keep an eye on her sister and the prince. Hans glared after her, being sure she didn't intend to step in again, then turned to Elsa expectantly. "What nightmare did you have the resulted in _this_?" he asked her as she came to the cell bars and wrapped her hands around them, leaning her forehead against the door and eying him warily.

"Plan first. Then we'll talk," she answered.

His jaw twitched. It was obvious he was displeased and indignant about the compromise, but she didn't back away. There was a moment where they tried to stare each other down. This time Hans lost. He sighed in annoyance. "Agreed," he relented. "How are you and Anna doing?"

"We're hungry, thirsty, agitated, tired, on edge, apprehensive, confused, scared, need I go on?" Elsa asked.

"Good. Make sure the Duke knows it too. Play up the dependant act. When he comes down, and he will, probably very soon, he'll ask you how you're faring. Exaggerate weakness, exaggerate dehydration and hunger and discomfort. Play it up, but don't overdo it."

"What's that going to do?" Elsa questioned.

"Just trust me," Hans answered. "You'll see soon enough what it'll do."

"Why do you believe it'll even work?" Elsa asked. Hans was quiet. "The Duke mentioned two women being among his most painful losses. Does it have to do with them?"

Hans was quiet, blinking. After a moment he sighed, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. He looked up at her again. "It does," he confirmed.

Frozen

For a moment there was silence as Elsa digested this. "These two women… They were very important to him," she noted.

"More than you know," Hans replied.

"What do you mean? Stop talking in riddles," Elsa said with a sigh.

Hans smirked. "Perhaps, my lady queen, I'll stop speaking in riddles when you stop avoiding questions."

She was quiet and tilted her head slightly, observing him. "You speak in riddles more often than I've ever avoided questions."

"I speak in masks," Hans corrected.

"There. Yet another riddle," Elsa pointed out.

"Maybe riddles are all I know of myself," Hans answered, smirk falling to a more serious look.

"Maybe you're afraid to look deeper," she answered.

"We're one in that, aren't we?" Hans said. She blinked and glanced away. She heard the truth in his words and hated it. "Now, dream. What set Anna off and shook you so badly? Obviously it was about me, but what did it entail?"

She was quiet, looking at him. After a moment she looked down, blushing shamefully. "It was dream not for decent ears to hear," she answered in a murmur.

"Luckily the only ears that will hear are mine," Hans said. Aside from Anna, that was, but Anna was family so that 'not for decent ears' rule didn't apply to her.

"You don't understand. It was… wrong. It was… It was sensual, to use a mild term," Elsa said. "It had no right to have formed…"

Hans blinked. Sensual? As in erotic? She had had a sensual dream? About _him_? Judging by the way it had set Anna off, he wasn't sure he _wanted_ to know. But then he already did, didn't he? At least if his suspicion as to where this was going was right. "It was only a dream," he said finally.

"I know… But it felt so _real_ …" Elsa answered. "I could feel every movement, every action. I could feel your body against mine and it was like it was actually… Like you were actually there, and…"

"Forcing you into something you definitely didn't want to do," he murmured bluntly, sparing her the need to say it out loud. Given twelve older brothers, you'd better believe he'd heard a plethora of erotic retellings and boasts. He wouldn't use a harsher term, it was obvious what this 'forcing' meant. Such harsh and improper terms tasted foul in his mouth. Of course they weren't as hard for him to say as they seemed to be for her, much to his annoyance and guilt, but he avoided them when euphemisms worked just as well. "I laid you bare and hurt you in a manner so heinous and despicable that it can hardly even be spoken."

"Yes," Elsa answered in an ashamed whisper.

"You snake," Anna hissed at the prince. Both him and Elsa ignored her. For the most part. Hans gave her a brief, sharp, and annoyed look, but otherwise said and did nothing.

Hans watched Elsa quietly. "It was only a nightmare… No matter how little you think of me, no matter the monster you believe I am, even _I_ have standards. You don't need to fear anything like that happening to you at my hand. I can restrain myself well enough."

"I know… But I didn't want you to..." she murmured; at least not as it went on. And that was so, so wrong that it left her feeling like common filth.

Frozen

She didn't want him to res… Wait, what? His eyes widened in shock, totally bowled over by what she'd insinuated. "Excuse me?" he asked, unsure he'd heard correctly.

She wasn't meeting his eyes anymore, and was in fact hanging her head in shame. Gods she felt dirty. She wanted a bath or _something_. She wanted to feel clean and pure again and not feel tainted by a dream. It was only a dream. A dream shouldn't make her feel like this. Like it had really happened. "In the dream was you and I. No one else. The world was burning around us. It was like we were trapped in the center of a raging hellfire, and you were its nucleus… And I saw wickedness in your eyes, and mocking cruelty. The look you must have given Anna. I tried to stop the flames with my ice, but I couldn't. I couldn't even feel my body to move and you drew nearer and nearer every second. With each step you took, I felt myself growing weaker. By the time you reached me, I couldn't escape you. No matter what I tried… You overpowered me…" She trailed off. He knew the rest, and it felt improper to speak of the matter in graphic detail so she refused to. She had gone too far as it was. "I begged your mercy, begged for death, begged for help… You gave none, death never came, and no one heard my screaming or saw me struggling… Perhaps because I wasn't struggling as much as I should have been… At first I was struggling. I struggled so desperately, but then… then I didn't, and I knew I _should_ be. Then the screaming stopped, and the fear I had felt… it wasn't there anymore… Neither was the reluctance, and I wanted more… I stopped hating it…" Stopped hating it, stopped fearing it. What was she doing, speaking about this? Men and women did not speak of such things to one another, no matter _how_ close they were; and she and the prince were the farthest thing from close.

 _And yet you speak to him unlike you've ever spoken to any man before, or even any person… You open your heart and soul to him and he does the same in purest honesty._

Why? Why was this happening to them? It wasn't natural to hate someone so much and yet feel so completely open to them that you would discuss things like this and not even feel the slightest bit afraid or reluctant to.

 _You do it because you know that with him there will be no judgement…_

There would be no judgement because he knew he was in no place to judge _anybody_ given his past… And he knew there would be no judgement from her. Not anymore. Not since the night he'd opened up to her on that cliff, overlooking the lair of the wicked sprite. She couldn't bring herself to judge him any longer. She wouldn't. She wouldn't because she knew there was something deeper hidden away. He saw that she knew as much, and he understood she would not condemn him, so he opened himself to her. He would never do so for anyone else, she realized. She doubted even _she_ ever would. Not because they couldn't or wouldn't, but because they felt safe speaking to each other. Neither tried to tell the other how to fix the problem, no false promises that things would be okay were given, no 'as long as I'm here nothing will hurt you' was said... Only assurances that they would fight together, not alone. That was all she wanted; all _he_ wanted.

"Never touch my sister again," Anna finished for Elsa, darkly glaring at the prince with arms crossed. They _all_ knew the dream had probably come about because of yesterday's… 'act'.

Frozen

Hans was quiet, looking at Elsa in disbelief and hardly hearing Anna. He felt himself flushing deeply. He regretted ever pressing. People did not talk about things like this to _anyone_ of the opposite sex. He felt like chastising her for even speaking such things, but at the same time knew he was in no place to do any such thing. Besides, he'd asked to know. Despite realizing from the start what it was probably about, he'd asked to know. He just… hadn't expected _this_.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. He wasn't sure what else to say or do. "Sorry that it made you feel like… like _this_ …" She was quiet. He looked away, something of a tiredness and sort of regret in his eyes. He drew a breath and slowly let it out. "Ask that the Duke let you bathe… He'll allow it, and then you won't feel…"

"Tainted? Dirty?" Elsa deadpanned with a bitter laugh.

Hans was quiet. "I never meant for this to happen," he said in way of defense.

"Why are you trying to defend yourself? It was a dream, as you said. Nothing is responsible for it but my own mind," Elsa answered.

"Maybe so, but if yesterday hadn't happened…" Hans began.

"Don't," Elsa cut off. "It did, and it was, and that game we played isn't to blame. In part, maybe, but not totally. You don't need to apologize for your permeating my dreams."

"Elsa…" he began.

"Hans. No," she said. She looked away from him and towards Anna, who was watching guardedly. "It isn't as if I've never dreamed of you before," she finally murmured. "Just never in such a context. It's just an unfortunate side effect of our working together so closely, since the incident with the Troll King."

There was silence, Hans looking down and to the side. "He'll let you bathe, if you ask him," he said. Elsa inwardly cringed at the tinge of bitterness in his tone. Bitterness because to know someone felt that dirty and tainted even thinking about you couldn't be easy for _anyone_. No matter _how_ much they deserved it.

"It isn't the fact it was you that makes me feel tainted," she said firmly. Which was truth. If she'd dreamed up a random fictional character in her mind that had done the same, she would feel every bit as dirty as she did now.

 _You feel dirty? No. You feel ashamed. Ashamed that you found it enjoyable_ _ **because**_ _it was him and not a dream stranger._

Voices were heard coming, the Duke blustering something angrily about irresponsibility and 'how dare you let your brother alone' and the like. They were on their way down. "The two women the Duke lost… They were his daughters…" Hans suddenly said.

Frozen

Elsa's eyes widened. Anna was on her feet in a second, looking shocked. "What?!" Anna exclaimed.

"That's why if you play the parts, he'll change his mind," Hans said. Neither sister knew how to react to that. "He'll associate you with them. He has begun to already. Then maybe he'll stop seeing a monster queen and her sister. In their place he'll see his lost children. In a sense he already has."

The dungeon doors were thrown open and the Duke walked in, obviously livid. "Seize the prince for interrogation!" he commanded without missing a beat, much bolder now than he had been at the start of this whole endeavor, and much less inclined to back away.

"Thanks to Franz's threats, I never touched her," Hans said sharply. "Doesn't mean I can't look."

"From here on you can't! If I catch you alone with either of those girls one more time, 'Prince', though honestly you hardly deserve such a title, you deplorable…" the Duke began.

"Be very, very careful. You're on your last shot," Franz darkly warned the Duke.

The Duke blinked up at Franz, a hint of fear in his eyes, then cleared his throat and turned back to Hans. "As I was saying, if you are ever caught alone with either of those girls again, I will have _you_ thrown into the dungeons too! Your brother is perfectly capable of holding up the deal you made without you."

"Out of my way," Hans replied, shoving past the Duke a little rougher than necessary, and storming away looking lost in thought. Franz inwardly cringed. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what had transpired down here, but it was definitely more than just discussing plot.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll go after my brother," Franz said.

"Go on," the Duke dismissed. Franz bowed his head and pursued Hans.

Frozen

The Duke of Weselton turned to Anna and Elsa. "I trust you're being treated with all the decency a royal prisoner is allotted?" he asked them. "Are you in want of anything?"

"We're thirsty," Elsa answered.

"And hungry," Anna said, holding her stomach. "And cold and miserable and angry and afraid… This isn't fair! My sister isn't a monster!"

"Bah, magic is wicked no matter what sort it is," the Duke scoffed.

"Even if you're right, she's not a bad person!" Anna said.

"Anna, stop it. He's made up his mind about me," Elsa said, hanging her head low and playing off of her sister. "Maybe I _do_ deserve this. Hans said I did," she lied. She hated to do so, but relations with Weselton needed to be patched up at any cost... Almost any cost... She was feeling more and more uneasy about this plot the more she learned of the background to it.

"What else did Hans say?" the Duke scoffed.

"He said I deserve everything that will befall me, and that I would deserve everything he would do to me if he ever got me alone," Elsa answered. The Duke bristled visibly but said nothing. "I feel violated," Elsa murmured, wanting to get a response.

"Violated?" the Duke asked. "Did he touch you?"

"In her nightmare he did," Anna softly said, looking down. "Touching was the _least_ of what he did."

"He will not lay a hand on you," the Duke said.

"I can't be protected from my dreams… I feel sick… And dirty…" Elsa said.

Now the Duke was shifting again and obviously visibly uneasy and torn. Torn between protective and prejudice. "If I deserve death, if I'm to die, what will it matter what he does to me?"

"Now that's hardly…" the Duke began.

"But he was right when he said it, wasn't he?! Just let him get it done, for the love of the gods. It isn't as if you care what befalls the sorceress!" Elsa snapped sharply at him, playing despair and hopelessness perfectly. "If I'm to die tomorrow, what will it matter? I won't suffer with the humiliation long."

"Now calm down, your majesty, you're working yourself into a tizzy," the Duke said.

"I want to be free. I want to go home!" Elsa said. Hans had said the man had lost his daughters, but he hadn't said how. However, if there was any chance it had to do with kidnapping and ransom, the words 'I want to go home' would strike him hard. They would strike him because he would know they were the words his daughters would have once said to their captors. "Please, let me go home," she added, voice breaking.

Sure enough the impact those words had was frankly jolting. A look of such despair crossed the Duke's face that Elsa and Anna almost believed they were looking at the face of a man about ready to throw himself out of a window because he had nothing to live for. The Duke of Weselton hid the look quickly enough, but it had been there, and in fact there was a hint of a misting in his eyes. This too he quickly hid away by looking down and cleaning his monocle while clearing his throat.

"I will have food and water brought to you both. And more blankets. Sorceress Queen, if you would like a bath I will have one drawn for you, though you will be under heavy guard. Of course they won't be inside with you, over my dead body would such a thing happen, but you get the picture," the Duke said.

"Again you call me sorceress," Elsa said.

"Because if I start seeing you as anything else…!" the Duke sharply snapped before getting a hold of himself and drawing a breath. He put back on the monocle. "Never mind. Never mind. You will be accommodated in whatever way you desire. Last day and all that. You might as well live it as best you can as a prisoner." He turned and quickly began to walk away.

Elsa and Anna exchanged looks. _There_ was the crack in the Duke's barriers that Hans had hinted at. The Duke was starting to humanize her again. The Duke was starting to soften and even at times forget she _had_ powers. The Duke was actually protecting them. The Duke was on the verge of crumbling, and that was what they needed. If only they could get him to crumble before tomorrow afternoon. There was a very limited window of time, and they needed to milk this for everything it was worth.


	7. The Murders of Weselton

The Murders of Weselton

(A/N: Given the M rating of this story, I probably didn't need to tone down this chapter like I did, but a lot of the description of the states bodies were found in were not only unnecessary, but also not something the Duke would describe in detail, given both his age and the time period he was born in. Still fairly descriptive, but yeah...)

Hans, on his way out of the dungeon and to his room, had broken into a walk so swift it was almost a jog. "Hans!" Franz called after his brother. Hans didn't look back. "Little brother!" Franz called again.

"Go away!" Hans shot.

"What is wrong with you?!" Franz demanded. "Why are you acting so freaked out?!"

"It's none of your business!" Hans answered, turning on Franz sharply. "Look, I just… I need some time alone right now, okay? Don't… don't worry. It isn't anything you need to be concerned about. Just stick to the plan. Try to find out more about the Duke's daughters and the specifics of what happened to them, maybe. Just let me be."

"The last time you said it was nothing and you just needed some alone time, you weren't even seen for two days," Franz shot. "You didn't eat or drink or _anything_. Did you even sleep?"

"It isn't as bad as that!" Hans replied. "Not this time. It's just stuff I have to work out, okay?"

"I'm offering to help you work that stuff out and you won't let me!" Franz said.

Hans paused, his talk with Elsa earlier coming back to him. You can't help those who don't want to be helped… Wasn't that what he'd said to her? …He hadn't decided he _wanted_ to be helped… He'd also told her as much… But why didn't he? Why was it so had to say, 'help me'? Even when it was offered flat out, why did he refuse it?

 _You don't believe you deserve to be…_

He closed his eyes then looked back at his brother. He seriously debated accepting the offer. Franz looked desperate to hear as much. Soon, though, Hans looked away. Not yet. "Let me rest for a little bit, then maybe… maybe we can talk…" he replied. Hmm, he'd given way more than he'd intended to. "Either tomorrow or when I get up, if it isn't too late at night."

Franz sagged in relief on hearing his brother's response. At least it was something. More than any of them had gotten from Hans before. Whether the youngest brother kept that agreement or not was yet to be seen, but it was a step in the right direction, at least. Now if only the _rest_ of them would focus on taking those steps. "Good… Thank you," Franz answered. Hans nodded then pushed open the door to his room and went inside.

Frozen

 _Monster. Irredeemable. Demon in the Shadows._

A whispering voice he couldn't discern.

"Who's there?" Hans called out, looking around this strange place he found himself in.

 _Worthless. Unlucky thirteenth. Whelp. Bastard. Useless. Stupid brat. Spare part. Throwaway Prince. Unwanted. Pathetic. Weak. Traitor. Die._

 _Those_ voices he knew. The voices of his brothers echoing all around.

 _Chameleon Prince. Puppeteer. Manipulator. Murderer._

The whispering voice again.

Hans was quiet, taking it all in. After a moment he darkly chuckled. "So this is what? My sins coming back to haunt me? Demons of the past come to torment me? Oh please. I've had worse. Come at me."

Suddenly a chill in the air. Suddenly a cold like that of an arctic storm, if not worse. Suddenly snow and ice creeping across the ground all around him, icicles cold and dangerous and menacing yet so unbelievably beautiful rising from the ground like fingers reaching from beyond to take him.

"Wicked Prince," a voice said. This voice he knew, and he paled, eyes slowly widening. He didn't dare turn. "You _are_ the demon. So it will not be demons you face. This time you face an angel."

Hans felt his skin bristling and spun around. "Elsa," he said on seeing her. Her eyes glowed white and her hair hung loose. There was only coldness in her gaze. There was no mercy, no gentleness, no tender expression… Just stoic and cold and so, so white… She was beautiful… But it wasn't a human sort of beauty now. An overwhelming sense of guilt and anger and fear and unease swept over him, and he saw—reflected in all her ice—every misdeed and sin he had ever committed and ever would. Unease and terror began to consume.

"Why are you afraid?" Elsa questioned.

"Stay away from me," Hans said, voice tense as he uneasily tried to move away from her and put distance between them.

"Why are you afraid?" she repeated.

"I said stay back!" Hans shouted angrily and fearfully. Suddenly flames burst forth from the ground, dancing and playing over the ice and around it. Consuming it but not able to melt it. Nor was the ice able to stop the flame in turn. It was like a scene from Inferno, Hans said to himself. Only with ice melded with the fire.

Elsa looked around at the sight then turned to him. "Why are you doing this? Did I threaten to hurt you?" she questioned.

He was numb. Why was he so afraid of her? She hadn't threatened him with harm. She hadn't threatened him with anything! And yet he felt an overwhelming urge to run. Run or kill her here and now and make sure there was nothing left of a body to find. "No… I do this because you exist and you won't go away"

"You hate me that much?" she asked.

"Leave me," he said.

"Wicked Prince, come to me," she said.

"Leave me!" Hans shouted.

"I want to help you," she replied.

"You _can't_ help me, don't you see?! Just leave!" Hans shouted.

"You can't run from this," she said.

"Damn you!" Hans yelled, recognizing his own words in her mouth. "Maybe _you_ couldn't run, but _I_ can, Elsa! I can!"

"I'll come after you," she said.

"Why would you do that?! What do you gain? Don't come after me. _Never_ come after me! There's nothing left for you to pursue!" Hans argued.

 _Beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold…_

His brothers. Words to a prophecy that he couldn't erase from his mind no matter how hard he tried to forget it. Words that applied to him, now, just as well as they had ever applied to her…

 _Perhaps better…_

Elsa was moving towards him. "Get away from me!" Hans shouted as the flames intensified and more were added. "Get away or so help me you'll regret it!"

"Wake up," her voice pled. There was fear and desperation in it now. "Wake up, your Grace. You're in danger. The fire is closing in. Can't you smell the smoke? Wake up!" He looked confused. Fire? Smoke? What was she…? "Hans, wake up!" her voice screamed suddenly as the inferno burst forth and consumed her, closing in on him. His eyes flew open in shock.

Frozen

His eyes shot open in the waking world. He felt heat, he smelled smoke, he felt himself coughing. He looked sharply up, sitting bolt upright, and yelped. He threw of the blankets he had drawn over himself. They were alight with flames, as was the whole room! The fire crackled and roared and raged, consuming everything it was touching.

 _How had he not felt the heat until now?_

In fact, he _hardly_ felt it now. Not that he had time to think about the searing blaze, burning flesh, or smoke inhalation. All he could allow himself time to think about was getting out of here before he joined the ashes this room would soon be in. "Hans! Hans!" he heard his brother's voice frantically shouting from outside the bedroom door. He tried to call back, but found his voice wouldn't work. He'd inhaled too much smoke as it was, apparently. He couldn't reach the door. Trying would be a death sentence. The window, however… He looked towards it and immediately bolted for it. He threw it open and looked down. He couldn't jump, of course, but there was a ledge outside. Hopefully one he could actually get onto without falling to his death. Taking a breath, he stepped onto the window sill and tentatively started out along it, leaning back against the palace wall and praying fervently that the ledge didn't crumble beneath him and send him to his death.

He heard Elsa's voice. "Hans, wake up!" she screamed. He paused. So then her last words in the dreamscape were the ones she'd spoken in the waking world after all. He moved along the ledge farther from the window. He'd never been gladder for stone walls. Fire wouldn't be burning though them and scorching him. As long as they didn't turn into ovens and force him to pull away or be baked alive on the walls, he'd be fine.

Frozen

She'd expected to be brought up to bathe then returned to the prison immediately. What she _hadn't_ expected was to hear frantic shouts of, "Fire, fire!" Nor had she expected Franz to burst into the bathroom without warning—and leave her mortified, might she add, though he seemed less than affected by the eyeful in front of him; goodness knew he'd probably seen many an attractive naked woman before, and frankly bubbles covered most all of her even now—and say, "Elsa, get out of the bath and follow me! Immediately! There is a fire in the palace. My brother's room! He won't answer our calls. I don't even know if he's conscious in there. We need your powers!"

Only once he'd gotten all _that_ out did he pause long enough to give her a once over. He looked tempted to say a flirty and probably totally inappropriate remark she could have his tongue or other parts of him cut out for, but apparently decided his brother's safety was more important than hitting on the Queen of Arendelle while she bathed. Though for a second it seemed it would be a close race and Hans wouldn't be the winner.

"Get out. I'll join you immediately," Elsa ordered urgently.

"Must I?" Franz deadpanned.

"Really? Now?!" Elsa demanded. "Your brother might be burning to death!"

"Fine, fine, sorry," Franz replied, quickly leaving the bathroom. She shook her head. Apparently that _had_ been an opportunity he couldn't pass up. She supposed she'd walked right into it, though. She immediately got out of the tub and formed her ice dress, racing out even before it was fully finished.

"Lead the way!" Elsa said to Franz. Franz was already racing off. Elsa followed closely.

Frozen

They arrived at the room. She could hear the fire crackling out here, and her heart pounded fearfully. She smelled smoke. She feared that if they weren't swift, the next scent that came from that room would be the smell of burning flesh. "Wake up!" she cried through the door. "Wake up, your Grace! You're in danger. The fire is closing in. Can't you smell the smoke?! Wake up!"

"Hans! Hans, answer me!" Franz frantically shouted as servants raced to fetch water and something to break down the door with.

"Hans, wake up!" she screamed as they heard the loud crack and bang of something collapsing inside, and heard the fire pick up. Flames licked from under the door. It would be suicide to break it down now. It felt like an oven even from here. Her heart sank. If Hans was still in there… She looked over at Franz, who was pale and looked ill. He knew it too. If Hans was still in there, he was dead. He would have succumb long ago to the heat and smoke. A dark thought told her and him both that this was a body recovery mission, no more.

Elsa immediately sent out her ice, determined to at least save said body if she couldn't save the life. The ice spread across the floor and the flames began backing away. Footsteps were heard, and then a gasp. The Duke and his men. They were watching her use her powers to stop the blaze. Franz looked at them then back to Elsa. He ran to them, seizing the axe one of the men was carrying, and ran at the door, driving the blade into it and breaking his way through the wood. The heat was intense, but Elsa sent a cold breeze to keep it from scorching the middle prince. Franz broke open the door. Immediately Elsa let loose a blizzard in the room, and Franz shoved inside to look for Hans. The fire still roared, but Elsa kept his path relatively safe. "Hans!" Franz shouted, looking to the bed and fearing what he'd see there. He started. No one was in it! But his brother had been in this room, he knew he had. If he'd left it, he would have come at the frantic shouting of his name. "Hans, where are you!"

"I'm out here!" Hans's voice called back. Franz looked ahead at the window and ran to it, looking out and down. "On the ledge, big brother," Hans said.

Franz sharply looked over and gasped. He could have collapsed in relief. He looked back into the room. Elsa was finishing off burying the last licks of fire. Hans began making his way back to the window. Franz seized his arm and pulled him inside swiftly the moment Hans was within reach. "Are you okay?" he demanded immediately.

"Barely," Hans answered. "I got out of the room hardly two minutes ago. I was sleeping until then."

"What?" Franz asked, frowning. "The heat was intense, Hans. If you were in that bed at all within the last five minutes, you should be dead."

"Well here I am. I supposes unlucky thirteen isn't so unlucky after all," Hans said.

"Unlucky thirteenth? I haven't called you that for two _years_ ," Franz remarked.

"You think I forgot it that easily?" Hans deadpanned. Franz cringed and said nothing.

Frozen

"Prince Hans, are you alright?" the Duke questioned, standing in the doorway with Elsa, who looked both shaken and relieved.

"I'm fine," Hans replied.

"How did the blasted fire start in the first place?!" the Duke demanded.

"How should I know? I assume a servant came in while I was sleeping and lit the fireplace. It probably caught something," Hans said.

Franz looked at the fireplace curiously and frowned. There should at least be signs of charred wood, if that had been the case. The ashes seemed untouched, and the heat from that fire… "It wasn't with the heat of a house fire that that thing was burning," he remarked out loud.

"What else could it be, Franz? Dragons? Unlikely," Hans said. "Pretty sure I would have awakened in time to see a dragon in my window."

"Yes, well, ah hem, dear queen, I… I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you. Your… sorcery may have saved the day," the Duke said, unsure how to respond to what he'd seen. He'd believed such power could only be used for evil, and yet he could find no evil in this. She had saved the prince. She may have saved the interior of the _castle_ in fact, and many lives with it. The only downside that he was seeing was the snow that would need to be shovelled, and that was hardly a curse. It… confused him, putting it mildly.

"It seems not all magic is bad after all," Franz said.

The Duke was silent, eyes narrowing suddenly. Angrily he turned and stormed away without a word. "My lord duke!" Elsa called after him, moving to pursue.

"Not yet," Hans said. "Get Anna, tell her what happened, and both of you together go after him."

"This isn't exactly the time to pursue the plan, Hans! He's upset, you're shaken, I'm shaken..." Elsa began.

"And his being upset will either lead to your pardon or your death. Especially with what Franz said," Hans replied. "You want to live, you get Anna and give him time to calm down and think things over a bit before you confront him. Really, Franz? You challenged him on his views that bluntly?"

"Admittedly it was a crapshoot, but he didn't move Elsa's execution up, he didn't order she be returned to the cell, and he didn't lash out at me. All good signs. If things work out, it'll also save Elsa's life without pushing it to the last minute. Hans sighed and nodded. He saw his brother had a point.

"Alright," Elsa relented, albeit reluctantly. Nonetheless, better safe than sorry. She hurried to go get her sister.

Franz turned to Hans. "You need to be examined," he said.

"I'm fine," Hans assured.

"Humor me? Please?" Franz pled. Hans sighed and relented, begrudgingly nodding.

Frozen

"Hans has got to be the slipperiest guy on the planet," Anna said as Elsa explained to her all that had happened. "He gets out of _everything_."

"He's a prince. Everyone he meets is sworn to protect him with their lives," Elsa answered.

"Yeah, but most of the times we've seen him slither out of stuff, his only protection was himself," Anna reminded.

"True," Elsa admitted. "But this time it was a group effort."

"I guess. I really hope the Duke's okay. Wow. Can't believe I just said that," Anna said.

"I know. I never thought I'd feel worried about him either," Elsa agreed. "Excuse me, but where is the Duke?" she questioned a servant, who looked at her uneasily and slightly fearfully.

"In his room, your majesty," the servant muttered, pointing in the general direction and quickly shuffling off.

Elsa inwardly cringed. "Hey, never mind them," Anna said, placing a hand reassuringly on her sister's shoulder.

Elsa smiled sadly and nodded. The two continued on. They approached a hallway up ahead. Peering down it, they saw only three rooms. The one at the end was the Duke's, of that there was no doubt. The presence of guards all down this hall confirmed it. The other two rooms…

"You think they belonged to his daughters?" Anna asked Elsa.

"Most likely. I guess parents want their children close so they can protect them, and so that the child can easily access the parent if they need to," Elsa answered as the two started down the hall. The guards warily watched them, but neither Elsa or Anna showed any signs of hostility, and so the guards settled for simply being wary. Arriving at the door to the Duke's room, Elsa reached out and carefully pushed it open. She and Anna peered inside. The Duke of Weselton was there, looking woefully out the window in darkness.

"He looks so sad," Anna said, frowning worriedly. Elsa was quiet, observing him. After a moment she took a breath and straightened up. It was now or never. She stepped inside with her sister.

Frozen

"My Dear Duke?" Elsa gently said.

"Sir, are you alright?" Anna asked.

The Duke started, turning to them and blinking. After a moment he looked back to the window. He considered demanding to know why they weren't in their cell, he thought about ordering his guards to take them back, but he didn't. Just kept staring out the window. "You know about my daughters," he remarked.

Both sisters stiffened. "Wh-what do you…?" Anna began.

"The princes of the Southern Isles may be master tricksters and manipulators, but I'm an old man, my dears... I've been around the block more times in my life than years they've been alive... I know both of those young men have been snooping about my libraries and archives. They are the only ones who could have told you about my children."

"Why would they?" Anna asked.

"I do not know. What I know is that there is no other reason you two would be so concerned with me. There is no reason you _should_ be. I have done nothing to warrant any sort of genuine concern, and so unless you two had been told of my children, you would not be here. You would not have spent these last few days in the dungeons striking at my every weak point," the Duke answered, turning to them.

They were quiet. "We didn't know they were your daughters. Not until today," Anna quietly said. There was no point in keeping up the ruse, she realized. He wasn't blind, and though at times a fool, she got the sense that was only due to his stubbornness and pride, when they got in the way. The man was clever. Surprisingly so. It seemed he was also more world-weary, jaded, and savvy than they'd ever begun to imagine of the bumbling, blustering old man they'd once kidded seemed like a spritely weasel. Though in retrospect, his suspicion of Arendelle on his arrival in their land suddenly made much more sense. He had been pretty well the only guest in attendance that had seemed to realize something was very off in their land, and he had been prepared, even before landing, for the worst. "We never intended to manipulate you and we still don't, I swear we don't!" Anna insisted, suddenly feeling rotten and guilty. She felt kind of evil too and she hated it. She felt like she needed to excuse herself and Elsa, but there was no excuse to be given that she could find.

"Then what game are you playing, Anna? Elsa?" the Duke questioned.

Elsa started and blinked. That was the first time he had ever called her by name for a long time now, she realized. I ever… Anna was at a loss for words, obviously guilt stricken. Elsa looked down. _She_ knew what to say, though. "I wanted to make things right between Arendelle and Weselton. For the sake of this war, for the sake of the lives of your people and Moren's and all those involved in this pointless battle… But you wouldn't give me a chance to, and Hans knew you wouldn't, and so we had to find some way to reach you. To gain audience. I want nothing from you, my Lord Duke. I never wanted to manipulate you or trick you or lie to you. I'm not Hans or his brothers… I may have played some things I was feeling up, but that was only because I wanted so badly for you to see me as a person, not as just the sorceress queen. I'm more than that, and I'm tired of people wanting me dead because of something I can't help! I'm tired of hearing about all the lost lives that could have been spared if only you would have understood as much from the start."

"You will not put this all on me! War was inevitable anyway!" the Duke argued. "Scotland and Norway have been fixed on attacking the Southern Isles since Caleb took his father's throne. Even _before_ that, tensions were high."

"I speak of _y_ _our_ people," Elsa said. "All the men that didn't need to die from _your_ kingdom, not Scotland or Norway."

"Do not pretend you care about my people!" the Duke yelled. Elsa was hanging her head, tears threatening her eyes. The Duke, taking a breath, said, "Now leave. Go back to your cell or I will..." He trailed off and was silent. Soon he bitterly chuckled. "I cannot even bring myself to threaten you with the guards dragging you back, anymore..." he murmured. The fears he had of what his children had suffered before their deaths were too painful.

Anna didn't bother hiding her tears like Elsa was doing. "We didn't mean to hurt anyone," she said, voice breaking.

The Duke's gaze softened slightly as he watched the two sisters. After a moment he sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. "I know," he replied. "But you did."

"Sir..." Anna began, heart breaking.

"Enough... I want no excuses or apologies... In part I'm grateful that you did... I have been struggling through my own battle for many, many years. A battle I buried away when I shouldn't have. A battle I never fully confronted because of my cowardice. My dears, I…"

"Why do you hate me?" Elsa asked.

He paused. "I hate what you can do," he soon answered.

"What I can do isn't evil," Elsa said. The Duke harrumphed. "You _saw_ the good in it," she insisted. The Duke was quiet, looking out the window again. "Help me understand. Please," Elsa pled. "I don't understand."

The Duke sighed through the nose. "Choose whatever guest rooms you want for the night. Never mind the dungeons," he said. He couldn't bring himself to put them in the cell again. Not when tomorrow Elsa would die... Or wouldn't... He was in the process of seriously considering sending them back to Arendelle, pulling out his men, taking whatever punishment came from Scotland and Norway, and forgetting any of this had ever happened so he could live out his last years in some semblance of acceptance.

"Don't ask us to leave you. Not when you're in this state," Elsa pled. She was genuinely concerned that if they left the man when he was in this mental place, they would awaken the next morning to hear he had shot himself in the night.

He looked up, letting out a shaky breath. He was aware of their concerns. He was aware of them because he had seriously considered doing _exactly_ what he suspected they feared he would do. "I can deal with my own pain, Elsa, Anna," he said.

"What happened? Please. Let us help. Maybe we can help put an end to the questions and confusion and hurt," Anna begged.

The Duke was silent. The sisters exchanged sad looks and turned to leave. "A decade has passed since the first murders occurred," the man suddenly and ominously and suddenly said. "It was not kidnapping and ransom that took my babies from me... They were about the ages you two are now, you know..."

Frozen

Both sisters froze in place, eyes widening. "Murders?" Anna uneasily questioned, looking back. She and Elsa turned around again.

"No surprise your Southern Isles friends…" the Duke began.

"They aren't our friends! Well, Franz is, but not Hans!" Anna defended.

"Young lady, excuse me while I'm talking," the Duke chastised.

Anna flushed. "Sorry," she murmured, looking down.

"As I was saying, it's no surprise your friends never found out about that bit of it. Apparently they were too preoccupied with finding _my_ greatest weakness… Though I venture to believe that perhaps they suspected more was at play than they knew… Those boys are not fools. The dullest of them could outwit and outclass the smartest of experienced tacticians." He trailed off and looked up. "A decade ago a sorcerer came into the kingdom… He was a dark man, all could see it. At least, all who were in their forties could, and a good few even in their thirties. A large number of parents as well. Young, good looking, he made the heads of young maidens spin, and they desired him greatly. Young men thought him the most progressive and wondrous thing, the dark but 'with it' sort of role model they didn't see in their parents because teenage rebellion and or the fancies and ideals of young men. But he was dangerous, mark my words. The young ones were constantly warned to stay away from him, constantly warned the man was nothing but trouble; but he was a charmer and a scholar and so as far as they were concerned, what did the elder generations know? A mystic? How thrilling."

"He sounds like Mael. Or Hans," Anna murmured. "What happened?"

"There was a festival all the young men and women had gathered for. Some sort of coming of age or presentation ball type thing that was held outdoors. Dancing, gossip, games… Of those games, one was hide and seek. A young girl who thought herself quite clever went a good distance off and hid. No one could for the life of them find her. Eventually they assumed she'd gone home and left. She was reported missing by her parents the next day… Four days later, her body was discovered in a riverbed, weighed down by rocks… She was one of the more fortunate ones…"

"More fortunate?" Anna uneasily asked.

"Two months later the next body was found. A young man. He had been beaten, and his body scorched and branded by some sort of painful magic. The scorching had been done while he was still alive. The cause of death was a head wound delivered after the burning," the Duke said.

"How many deaths are we talking about?" Elsa questioned.

"One for every year, plus another," the Duke answered.

Every year plus one? If a decade had passed, then they were looking at eleven murders. "A slaughterer," Elsa realized in growing horror.

"The third was a girl, the fourth another boy. The bodies were being found, now, in progressively worse shape, and the violence the victims endured was worse and worse. The fifth victim, a girl, was found with symbols carved into her that seemed to be spells. She was virtually unrecognizable everywhere said symbols didn't touch, and practically torn to shreds so that for a while rumor went around that we were dealing with a werewolf or cult. All that was discernable in her face were the eyes, which fortunately had been a unique color," the Duke said.

"You suspected the sorcerer," Elsa realized. "Why didn't you take him into custody?"

"We did! There was nothing to hold him. He wasn't seen again after the first time we bought him in. At least, not by the majority. Perhaps the only ones who saw him afterwards were the young ones who had vanished and were later found dead. The eighth, a young man, tried to play hero. Finally it sunk in that the sorcerer meant death, and he had determined to put himself at risk in the hopes of stopping the man finally… He was found three days later." Anna and Elsa felt their hearts drop. "The ninth, a friend of the eighth's, decided to finish what the other started. Needless to say, it didn't end well. He was missing three months before his body was found. The tenth, a girl, was always careful and played it safe, rarely if ever going out on her own. She took her brother with her most everywhere she went, relying on the hope this thing killed in pattern and that together she and he sibling could stand. It didn't kill in pattern, and they couldn't stand. When the brother was found with his neck broken, a victim of circumstance, we knew it wasn't long before she would be discovered too. Suffice it to say, it was impossible to identify all that had been done to her when we found the remains. The mother and father took their own lives afterwards. Having lost their only children, they determined life wasn't worth living."

Frozen

Anna and Elsa listened to all of this numbly. Shaking out of the shock, Anna demanded, "Wasn't a mob or _anything_ sent up there?"

"You'd better believe it. After the death of the fifth girl, every single able-bodied person in town marched on that place ogre hunting style. They broke into the sorcerer's tower only to find nothing. In fact, the place looked as if it had been abandoned for _years_. Every nook and cranny was searched, and no trace was ever discovered. They scoured the entirety of the kingdom, rewards were offered, the guards were on high alert and in fact tripled. Bounty, monster, and witch hunters came from all around… Nothing came of it, of course. We dared hope something had, though. You see, a year passed with no incident. No victim. We believed the killer had gone away or died… The belief cost us… Cost _me_ …" the Duke said.

"The sixth and seventh victims…" Elsa realized, eyes widening in horror and pity. "They were…"

"My daughters… Yes…" the Duke murmured, looking back out the window towards the desolate and decrepit tower in the distance. He drew a shaky breath. They were unique in that they were taken together. You couldn't separate those two if your life depended on it. One for the year he missed, one for the seventh year… They were missing for almost that full seventh year… The things they must have endured… How many times did they scream for me, I wonder? And I couldn't answer. I was always there, had always answered, and when they needed me most… When they needed me most, I failed… Failed as a father and as a man…"

"Dear Duke…" Anna began, sadness in her eyes.

"Don't… Don't… When a parent cannot protect their child, they have failed," the Duke said.

"They have failed when they never tried to protect them or find them in the first place," Elsa said. "You tried. You did everything you could…"

"And it wasn't enough," the Duke sharply said.

"That wasn't your fault!" Anna insisted.

"I should have been able to protect them," the Duke said, voice wavering. He suddenly seemed so much older than he had before. The man took a breath. "The sorcerer knew whose daughters they were… He couldn't have _not_ known. From that tower he could peer right into the courtyard, and he would have seen my girls laughing by the pond, playing games, doing their hair, discussing day-to-day events or books they had read or young men who had caught their fancy… He knew where to leave the bodies so they would be found... As I rode along the beach, as is my custom, a small entourage with me - and by small I mean the two guards that I sent after you, Elsa - we came upon the bodies… Broken, scorched, shredded, worse… If I had not been able to see their eyes, and if they had not been placed in the positions they were placed, I wouldn't have known them… No, I would have, but there would have been no way to positively identify them… The people should have left my two men and I to die in our grief that day…"

"Your two men as well?" Anna asked.

"Who do you think the young men my daughters had taken a shine to were? Why did you think they were as determined as I to end your sister's life? It certainly wasn't my orders _alone_ that drove them to obey at risk of their own lives… That is why I grew to so despise magic and its wielders. Nothing good came of it in this land. Ever. Only pain and suffering and death," the Duke replied.

Anna and Elsa felt their hearts sinking lower. They tried to speak, but there was nothing they could say. There was no word of comfort that could be given, no promise. "He was never found?" Elsa asked.

"Never… Another young man or woman is due to disappear any day now," the Duke remarked, turning to them. "And there isn't a thing we can do to stop it or save them. The sorcerer is in the process of finding his next target as we speak… A yearly tribute is what this had become… I want that man found and I want him killed. Perhaps part of my reasons for wanting you dead was that in my eyes you became a surrogate for him and his wickedness, and you were one that I could kill to taste revenge. Who is to say, though?" Again he turned to the tower, his resentment and hatred for the place obvious.

Elsa and Anna moved towards him to look out the window at the sorcerer's tower. It stood dark and gloomy in the sky. "We can put a stop to him," Elsa suddenly said.

Frozen

The Duke almost choked on air, whirling on Elsa with eyes wide. "We can what now?!" Anna demanded immediately, sharply looking at her sister with eyes just as wide as the Duke's were now.

"You can what now?!" the Duke repeated. "Perhaps you weren't clear on my story. Every young one who has tried to play hero has ended up victim!"

"Maybe, but no young man or woman who has tried to play hero yet, has had powers," Elsa said.

"Absolutely not! I forbid it!" the Duke said. "I will not see yet another young woman's life cut short!"

"You'll see one regardless, you said so yourself. Weselton is due for the next death. Better it be someone you hate than a citizen you care about," Elsa said.

"I _have_ come to care!" the Duke shot sharply. Elsa and Anna started, looking at him with wide eyes. "Well what did you expect would happen when your young man began orchestrating this whole incident? Of course I suppose that given you never knew the story behind their plot, you didn't see that Hans was twisting things to highlight the similarities between you two and my dead daughters, driving me to humanize you and see so much more in your countenances than I ever wanted to. You didn't notice Hans re-enacting scenarios my children may well have been a part of while captured by that _thing_. You didn't realize that Hans's playing the pervert, intending to do every sort of grievous harm to the captives, would force me to see my daughters again, and see the monster that took them in the prince. Congratulate the young royal on a job well done. Of course when has he done anything less?"

"That _bastard_ ," Anna realized. "That was why he told us…" She trailed off. They'd known Hans had been using them as surrogates to the Duke, but like _this_? It was so cruel! "He wanted you to relive the past and see us as them. Their memory come to life… And he knew that we would start to feel closer to you too because…"

"Because I lost two daughters, and you two lost a father," the Duke said.

Frozen

Elsa was torn between being furious with the prince or highly impressed with him. Of course she had suspected she and Anna were to be surrogates for something, but she hadn't realized that everything the prince was doing was designed to cut the Duke right to the heart, forcing him to relive the agony of his past and see, in person, the torment his daughters must have endured, and be unable to stop it yet again, even when they were right in front of him... Even if that torment was played down hugely, it wasn't okay. That was what enraged her about this. That Hans had seen fit to hurt an old man down to the depths of the heart and soul to make this plan work… This plan that gave her everything she'd expressed to him she _wanted_ …

Elsa inwardly cringed, feeling guilty. She'd wanted relations to be fixed between them, she'd wanted respite in the war, she'd wanted things to be right between Arendelle and Weselton, and thanks to Hans she'd gotten it… But the way he had gone about it… Was it worth it in the end? Oh she was furious with him, to be sure, and she wouldn't be shy about saying so. She'd known this plan would involve manipulation and using emotions against the Duke. She just hadn't expected the emotions turned on him would be this horrible. "He'll regret this," she murmured.

"No he won't. Wish him no ill, either of you," the Duke firmly said, taking one of each of their hands into his and lightly pressing them. "The young man cannot be condemned for his actions. It would have taken no less than this—forcing me to face a past I wanted to forget and reopening the agonizing memories I'd thought I'd blocked away—to drive me to let go of my prejudices against you, your Majesty. To drive me to see you for more than a sorceress, and understand that you are just a woman. Like any other. An extraordinary one, perhaps, but a woman nonetheless… A human being who feels and thinks and fears, not a monster who wishes only for destruction and harm… In a strange way I am grateful to him for driving me to remember my children and face those memories again… And it is for that reason that I will not allow you to interfere in this matter of a sorcerer. I will not relive those memories any more painfully than I have already been forced to. To see your bodies as well… I will not survive seeing my daughters' remains a second time." That he could identify Elsa and Anna to his children now meant it was his daughters, not a snow queen and her sister, that he would see lying dead, should this fail. The added guilt of knowing it wasn't them, and that he'd failed to protect even these two, would do him in.

"There will be no remains for you to find," Elsa promised, gently covering his hand with hers. "I promise you, Dear Duke, that the only casualty that will come of this is the man who murdered your daughters and all those other people." Anna nodded in agreement, more inclined, now, to hear her sister's plan out.

"Do not make promises ever," the Duke dryly said. "A piece of life advice you'd do well to remember. Never make promises unless you are certain beyond doubt that they will be kept."

"I am," Elsa said, smiling.

The Duke's firm expression crumbled to one that was a cross between touched, agonized, and worried all at once. He was silent a long moment. "Very well," he finally relented. "I don't want to regret this… Please do not make me regret this…"

"We won't," Anna assured, grinning at him and gently pressing his hand. The two pulled away from the Duke and hurried out of the his room. It was time to figure this thing out and put an end to this decade old mystery once and for all.


	8. Encounter

Encounter

(A/N: Next chapter will have a blatant reference to a little known H.C. Andersen story that seemed almost Poe-esque, when I read it. See if you can guess it from the clues I've dropped here.)

Franz and Hans listened in disbelief to the two women rehash what the Duke had told them. "Be thankful he actually appreciated what you did, or you'd be in _big_ trouble!" Anna finished, snapping sharply at Hans.

"Oh come on! He said himself it was all that would have gotten him to smarten up!" Hans shot. "In my defense I didn't know it had been that bad!"

"What _did_ you know?!" Anna demanded.

"I knew that his daughters had been kidnapped and later found murdered! I knew there was heavy suspicion that they'd been assaulted because, and here's something the man _didn't_ tell you, one of them was found to be pregnant in autopsy!" Hans shot. "But I'm damn sure she wasn't pregnant by the maniac who took her, because according to Lars when I asked him about it, the baby was too far along to have been the kidnapper's child. Besides that, that wasn't the sort of thing the killer did anyway."

"Probably why the Duke didn't mention it. One of your baby girls getting herself impregnated by one of your lowly bodyguards, before marriage at that, isn't exactly something a man will boast up," Franz said.

"You stay out of this!" Anna shot at Franz. "I'm talking to the psycho you call brother."

"For the love of… Back off, Anna! While you're still ahead!" Hans shot.

"Or else what?" Anna demanded.

"Or else things get ugly!" Hans shot.

"They weren't already?" Anna demanded. "Because ugly is what I was going for."

"What do you want from me?!" Hans demanded. "I can't make the past magically go away, love."

"Don't call me that! _Ever_!" Anna shouted.

"Very well. Honey it is," Hans taunted.

"Will you please freeze him?!" Anna demanded of her sister.

"Get _over_ it!" Hans shouted. "I may have been a total creep in Arendelle, playing you for a sucker, but you were the one stupid enough to fall in love with a man you'd just met! Who even _does_ that?!"

"Someone who's been deprived of attention all of her life and totally inexperienced in the world!" Anna replied. "You were the guy that took advantage of a girl's vulnerability. This doesn't come back on me. I'm the victim, not you!"

"News flash, Anna, I was _plenty_ deprived of attention in my life, and even I knew better!" Hans argued.

"Ah, but to be fair you were pretty damn world weary. Your family made sure of that," Franz pointed out.

"I'm sorry, did I ask you?" Hans demanded.

"You aren't helping either side, Franz!" Anna agreed.

"Hey, you two agreed on something," Elsa teased, honestly a little amused by this little catfight the two were having. Also a little ticked off at the subject matter of it and the memories it was bringing up, but the amusement outweighed the resentment at the moment.

Hans took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "So why did you two tell us all of this?" he asked.

Anna wasn't ready to calm down yet, it seemed, and she replied, "So you could go into the corner and think about what you did!"

"What am I, a child?!" Hans snapped back. "Grow up, Anna!"

"How dare…" Anna began.

"Anna, enough," Elsa said. She'd lost count of how many times she'd had to call her sister down now.

"You're seriously siding with him?!" Anna demanded.

"He asked a serious question and he's getting a serious answer. Like it or not, they need to know," Elsa said. She turned back to Hans and Franz. "We told you all of this because we intend to stop this serial killer in his tracks."

Frozen

Franz and Hans were silent a moment, blinking blankly and trying to process they'd just heard that. "You're going to go out and stop a serial killer?" Franz finally, and incredulously, asked.

"Yes," Elsa answered. The brothers exchanged looks then burst into laughter.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Hans said.

"Why is it so hard to believe we can do it?!" Elsa demanded, immediately indignant and defensive.

"You have to _ask_?!" Hans said. Elsa fumed and Anna looked livid. The brothers' laughter died down. "Okay, we'll be serious now. Tell us how you plan to, err, apprehend this serial killer, was it? Apprehend as in leave alive?"

"They said it, Hans. Alive. They'll do it. They'll go after the evil sorcerer and defeat him then tie him up and drag to jail. You know. Like he were a common thief. After all, he's hardly any more threat than that. Sure he's killed ten women, two of them at the same time, but hey, he's never dealt with 'princess power' before. A Duke's daughters aren't exactly princesses," Franz said. Both princes burst into laughter again.

"We want the perpetrator alive so he can…" Anna began.

"Face justice?" Hans cut off. "Because a common cell's going to hold a sorcerer. I'm sure he'll stay put like a good boy if you ask him nicely."

"Could you please stay put in jail until your execution, sir? It won't be too painful. Your judge, after all, is just a grieving father who lost two children and a grandchild all in one go. I'm sure he'll go easy on you with a beheading. It won't be so bad, so just hold out like a good fellow now," Franz said.

Elsa and Anna shifted uneasily, exchanging looks. Well, when it was put like that it did kind of sound ridiculous… But they'd made a promise and they were going to keep it! They wanted the perpetrator alive so he could suffer all the longer. Eyes narrowed, the two turned back to the brothers. "We promised the Duke that man would pay for the lives he took," Elsa seriously said.

"You want him to pay, you don't tie him up and bring him in to 'face justice'," Franz said, making quote signs with his fingers. "Men like that are too dangerous to be left alive. You can tote the 'face justice' crap all you want, you can tote the 'he deserves to suffer first' around too, but if you go that route, he'll get away and the next lives he takes will be yours. Men like that don't stay held."

"What happens to the dead women and their families getting justice then?" Hans added.

"We promised him," Elsa repeated through gritted teeth.

Frozen

The two princes were silent, suddenly seeming much solemner as they began to register this was being said in all seriousness. As in, the girls already had a plan serious. "You're actually going to do this," Hans said, a cross between bemused and admiring.

"We are. We _will_ be victorious, he _will_ fall, and those women and their families _will_ have their justice. We prefer to take him alive, but if it comes down to it don't think for a second I'll hesitate to end him for what he has done," Elsa said.

"He's never faced another magic wielder before. This will work," Anna agreed.

The princes were quiet. "What exactly is your plan?" Franz finally asked; and while Hans now looked much more intrigued, feeling drawn to whatever place this was going, Franz was remaining skeptical and protective. Time to enter big brother mode and slam on the brakes for the three younger royals if things went where he didn't like them to be.

"The man is in the process of picking his next victim or victims, if the Duke is to be believed. From the tower he can look right down into the Duke's courtyard. That was how he found the Duke's daughters. This time he'll find Anna and me," Elsa said.

"Stop right there," Franz said sharply, frowning. "You're saying you're going to make yourselves his next victims."

"Targets, not victims. Victims implies we're as good as dead already. We aren't," Anna said.

"Okay, problem one. Do you even know how long it takes him to lure in a victim in the first place? You're kind of on a time limit, and if he drags out the luring process, you won't be here long enough to stop him. Problem two. You don't even know how this man lures in his victims," Franz said, sticking to the term victims. This would be driven home to them one way or another. They needed to clue into just how serious and stupid this was. "Does he grab them when they're alone and away from people? Does he come right into their rooms, put them under a spell, and take them? Does he charm them and draw them up into his 'parlour'? Does he hypnotize them? Do _they_ go to _him_? Does he just use whatever opportunity there is to grab them? Every single one of those methods of getting his victims into his clutches would require a different strategy of protecting yourselves, and the opportunist method I mentioned last _has_ no means of protection. "

"We won't be alone in protecting ourselves," Anna said.

"What do you mean?" Franz asked.

"Why do you think we're telling you and Hans all of this?" Anna replied.

Franz and Hans started and blinked. What now? They exchanged looks then turned back to the Arendelle royals. "What are you saying?" Hans asked.

"You're helping us," Anna answered. "Whether you want to or not. We'll protect ourselves, but if something goes wrong, at least we'll have you two for backup."

"Because bodyguards have done so well in the past?!" Franz demanded. "The Duke's daughters were snatched right from under their lovers' noses! And those guys are trained to be among the best, you know."

"Love makes you weak and careless," Hans bitterly deadpanned, frowning at this turn of events. "Which means we're the two in the _best_ position to watch their backs."

"Love makes you all the more powerful," Franz said, frowning at his brother.

"All those girls had to do was bat their eyes at those bodyguards or whine about them being possessive, and the two idiots would have probably let them do whatever they wanted without being defended," Hans said.

"Now what do you think would have happened if they'd let the bodyguards go with them and some sorcerer freak tried to snatch them?" Franz asked.

"Remember the story of the girl who always went walking with her brother? I'm damn sure the love of a brother, us notwithstanding, outweighs any sort of romantic love, and look what happened to _him_ ," Hans replied.

"He was also untrained," Franz pointed out, frowning. "I'm willing to bet that if he'd been taught swordsmanship to the level those bodyguards were taught, that sorcerer would have been dead. In fact if his _sister_ had been trained to that level, the sorcerer would have been dead for trying to kill the girl's brother."

"He makes a point," Anna agreed with Franz.

Frozen

Hans shifted uneasily. He hated the truth in that statement. He also hated that he'd lost his 'love makes you weak' argument. Finally he sighed and looked to Elsa. "Fine. Courtyard, get yourselves targeted, what then?"

"Then we wait. We stay on guard, you stay on guard, and the moment something happens, action is taken. Either you two can follow us around and make yourselves seem as undisciplined as possible, or you can spy, but either way you stay close at all times," Elsa said. "You let him take us and you follow him."

"Of course if he takes you two as well you don't need to worry about following him, but that's a whole other thing. I mean, ultimately it leads to the same place," Anna said. Franz and Hans looked less than convinced.

"When we're away from people, and he's trying to do to us what he did to the others, he'll witness firsthand the power he's crossed, and he'll realize he bit off more than he could chew this round," Elsa said. "I encase him in enchanted ice so thick and strong that it would take a miracle to break free, we bring him back, he is sentenced and executed for his crimes. You two probably won't have to even lift a finger. Maybe it will be harder than I think it's going to be, but remember what I have at my disposal." To make a point, she raised up ice all around them, jagged and dangerous looking.

The two princes looked around, thinking over the plan. Hans turned back to Elsa. "The whole world is a series of miracles," he warned, as Elsa dissipated the ice. _This_ time that philosophy sounded dark, the queen noted. Subtly she shivered, realizing the point he was making with it.

"It will work," she said.

"Mael held his own against you, Elsa. He is a sorcerer too and you _still_ acknowledge there's more you need to learn from him before you're in full control. This man we're talking about? He probably has two decades on you. He probably has at least five to ten years on Lars too. This isn't some enemy easily dealt with," Franz warned.

"I took on the troll king," Elsa pointed out. "Fae are more powerful than sorcerers."

"You took on the wicked sprite at the lowest point his power has been at for years, and you _still_ almost ended up dead. Both you _and_ Hans," Franz said. "And he's still going to come back, and when he does there will be hell to pay."

"It will work," Elsa said. "It has to."

"Just because it has to, doesn't mean it will," Franz argued.

"I'll go with you," Hans said.

"Are you doing this just to be contrary?" Franz demanded of his sibling.

"No. It's the only plan we have, Franz. This man needs to be stopped one way or another, or he'll go on killing and mutilating for years to come yet. It may not be a safe plan, but it's the best one we'll get. If anyone has a chance of standing to him, it's Elsa. We don't have Mael here to fall back on, and we may not need him if her Majesty is so sure about this," Hans answered. He turned to Elsa. "You have my cooperation."

Franz sighed. "Fine. Fine. I don't like it, but I'm not leaving you three to have at this on your own, so I'm in," he said.

"Good. Anna and I are going to the courtyard. Keep your eyes open and stay ready," Elsa said, nodding at them. With that, she and Anna walked away. Franz exchanged looks with Hans, Franz's expression uneasy and Hans's less than alarmed. He sighed deeply and nodded to his little brother. Hans nodded back and started after the girls. Franz followed and told himself over and over that he was going to regret this. He probably shouldn't think so negatively, but it was what it was. A multiple murderer was nothing to underestimate, and none of this sat well with him. Something didn't add up. He just wished he knew what it was.

Frozen

Elsa and Anna sat in the courtyard. Elsa had let her hair down and was brushing it. Anna was climbing trees and generally behaving in a manner most would believe was unbefitting of a princess, but that most who saw it were very endeared by. Franz was in the process of ogling the both of them. He'd never seen Elsa with her hair down, and he liked what he was observing. As to Anna, he found himself very drawn to her little quirks and wild-child spirit. It appealed to him. Probably because he was the wild child in his _own_ family. He had half a mind to go down and join them. He looked to Hans. Hans wasn't paying attention to either woman, eyes fixed apprehensively on the tower.

"Hans, appreciate the scenery," Franz teased.

Hans gave Franz an incredulous look then looked down at the girls, watching them in silence. His eyes stopped roving after a moment. Franz tried to follow them, but almost like he sensed what his brother was doing, Hans sharply focused on the tower again. Not that Franz needed to fully follow Hans's gaze to get an idea of who his eyes has settled on. Cough, cough, ice queen. "I'm watching to see if anyone comes out," Hans said in reply to his brother.

"You can't deny your attraction to them forever. And you _certainly_ can't deny you're attracted by Elsa," Franz ribbed, nudging him. "Not after _your_ little dance with her."

"Shut up, Franz," Hans replied, rolling his eyes hopelessly. "No sane man can deny attraction to _either_ of those girls. Watching for the killer is priority now, not ogling two young maidens in a courtyard like some stalker."

"Two maidens looking as fine as any maiden _I've_ ever seen," Franz said, fixed on them. "In fact I'm not sure I've _seen_ maidens as lovely."

"Except _her_ ," Hans muttered.

Franz's eyes narrowed and he glared at Hans. "Drop it. The Arabic gypsy was a friend, nothing else," he warned.

"You're still telling yourself that?" Hans asked.

"I swear to god on high, if you…" Franz began. He paused, hearing something, and looked quickly down. Hans, startled, looked down as well. A man was sitting on the courtyard wall, looking down at Elsa and Anna!

"What in the world? How did he _get_ there?" Hans murmured. They hadn't seen _or_ heard him coming.

"I don't know, but I just got chills. And not the good kind of chills," Franz answered, checking his weapons. "That guy is like a _shadow_." Hans nodded quietly, keeping an eye on things. "You think it's him?" Franz asked after a moment.

"Well, he fits the description," Hans replied. "And makes me uneasy, so yeah, I'd say that's him."

"And they've noticed him. Now it begins," Franz said.

Frozen

"Elsa, look," Anna said, pointing to the courtyard wall.

Elsa looked over and spotted the man watching them. Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she called to him.

"No one of much importance," the man answered. "Just a citizen."

"What right do you have to climb up onto the palace's courtyard wall?" Elsa demanded.

"None. I was just curious," the man answered.

"About what?" Elsa asked.

"About the voices of young maidens coming from the garden. What right do you two have to be here, if I may ask?" the man questioned.

"You may not ask," Elsa answered, turning from him.

"Kind of creepy that you're spying on us," Anna said, picking up where Elsa had left off. "I mean, you could have asked us who was here. We might have invited you in."

"I'm sorry, my ladies," the man answered. "It was rude of me to come here in such a way."

"Then why did you?" Anna asked.

"Because you intrigued me. The voices of young girls have not been heard in this place for, oh, about four or five years," the man said. "The Duke's daughters were killed, you know. When I heard you, I wondered if there were two secret ones as well who he never presented. What relation are you to the Duke?"

"That's none of your business," Anna answered.

"Of course not," the man replied. He looked around the area. "Eyes are watching us," he remarked.

"Eyes are always watching us," Elsa answered. "You're proof enough of that."

The man smirked. "You two have a sharp wit, I'll give you that. It has been some time since I've crossed such cunning young women," he said.

"Your flattery will get you nowhere, sir," Anna said.

"Tell me, have you ever seen beyond the palace?" the man asked.

"From out our windows we see the whole land," Anna answered.

"I mean personally. Physically," the man said.

"No," Anna faux warily replied.

"Would you like to?" the man asked.

"Remember when in childhood you were told never to go anywhere with a stranger?" Elsa answered. "It turns out those lessons tend to stick. We'll be fine here, sir."

"Are you sure? There is so much you're missing," the man said.

"I'm sure we have it all in this place," Elsa said.

"Wildflowers blooming in an open field. Mountain streams trickling down the rocks and through the grass. Children running around and playing while their loving parents watch over them. Laughter, dances, celebrations... Tell me you have it all _now_ ," the man said.

Wow. This guy was good, the sisters both noted, exchanging looks. Really good. So they wouldn't press their luck any farther. Time to let themselves be baited. The two were silent a moment. "You know where all of this is to be found?" Elsa asked.

"I do," he answered. "Let me show you it."

"We aren't supposed to…" Anna began.

"It'll be fine. Nothing will hurt you, I promise," the man said. The two sisters were silent. After a moment they moved towards the wall tentatively. The man's smile spread and he reached down for their hands. Uneasily they let him pull them up onto the wall. Then over it. He led them towards the town down a path that was used very little. Hans and Franz, watching and observing, exchanged looks and nodded to one another. Silently they followed, making sure they didn't lose sight of the targets. They couldn't afford to, not even for a second. If it got hard, they made their presence known and followed along, but played undisciplined and made the man believe they wouldn't be a challenge or hindrance.

Frozen

Anna and Elsa looked at the meadow in disbelief and awe. "It's beautiful!" Anna exclaimed.

"I told you it would be," the man replied.

Elsa looked around. Was this where he'd brought previous girls to drive them to let their guard down? It certainly was a disarming place. Despite herself she felt more relaxed here than she should. "It's amazing," she remarked.

"It is. _This_ is where you two can laugh and play and gossip to your heart's content," the man said, gesturing to it. "It's also a wonderful place for a nap. In fact I might take one now. Have fun, girls. I won't be 'creepy' anymore."

Yawning, the man laid down and closed his eyes. Anna and Elsa exchanged uneasy looks. Something wasn't right here. They just wished they could pinpoint it. The looked around, trying to see where Franz and Hans might be. It was unsettling not to see them near. There was suddenly a glint out the corner of their eyes, and they looked over. From behind a large log peered the two brothers. The light had come from a mirror Franz was holding up to signal them. They nodded, feeling much more comfortable now, and wandered off to explore the field. It _was_ gorgeous, after all.

Franz and Hans watched. So far nothing too out of the ordinary was happening… And then the man slowly sat up, while Elsa and Anna weren't looking, and turned in their direction. They saw him lift a hand and watched his lips silently move. "He's chanting a spell," Franz realized with a chill. The man opened his hand and blew on it. What looked to be dust flew from the hand and went after the sisters, soon surrounding them.

"This can't be good," Hans said, noticing they were suddenly moving slower and yawning a lot more.

"This is how he's luring them," Franz noted. At least _this_ round it was. Hans nodded, entire body tensed and poised to act if need be.

Frozen

Anna yawned. "Wow, suddenly _I_ feel really tired too," she said. "How long have we been out here?"

"I don't know," Elsa replied, stretching. "It feels like hours."

"Nothing is happening so far. Maybe we should go back to the Duke's castle," Anna said. "Maybe tomorrow he'll spring."

"Not sure I'll _make_ it to the Duke's castle," Elsa said, rubbing an eye. "Something's wrong here."

"My, you girls must have been busy for hours," the man said suddenly, approaching them.

"The sun hasn't even move in the sky," Anna protested, looking up. She started. The sun was obscured by clouds. No way to tell if it had or not. "Or, uh, never mind."

"Come, I'll bring you two back home. Or to an inn, if you don't think you'll make it back to the castle," the man offered.

"An inn will work," Elsa agreed, nodding. This could be it. They approached him cautiously. He smiled and turned, leading them out of the field but moving slowly enough that they'd catch up.

"What the hell is this guy's game?" Franz asked, watching the sky then turning back to the man.

Hans was quiet. He had no answer to give. "Weird. His shadow isn't supposed to be in that position this time of day," Hans remarked. Franz looked at the shadow again and blinked blankly. What was this even? Anna and Elsa were nearing him, Anna in front. She stepped into the man's shadow.

Suddenly Anna gave a piercing shriek as she fell into it! Literally fell into it. Through it! Like it was some sort of portal. "Anna!" Elsa cried out in alarm, trying to grab her sister's hand. She caught it, but in the process she was thrown off balance. She screamed, falling with her sister.

"Move!" Franz yelled as the man began to laugh, detaching from the shadow and stepping into it after them. The brothers leapt from hiding and dashed towards the shadow. They both dove into it without even a second thought.

Frozen

Elsa and Anna gasped, staggering quickly up on feeling solid ground again. They looked ahead and their eyes widened. "The tower!" Anna exclaimed.

"It _was_ him," Elsa realized. They turned around quickly. Out of a shadow on the ground stepped the man! The two sister's slowly backed away. Here was hoping Franz and Hans knew where to look.

"Don't be afraid, my girls. It isn't so bad," the man said. From the shadow tumbled the two princes, surprisingly quietly. They looked up and were swift to get out of sight again, just as the man turned sharply. "Eyes are watching us," he remarked.

"They always are," Elsa answered, trying to distract him. "You know, you're not going to make us your next victims. You'll fail."

"Will I now?" the man asked.

"You don't know what you've crossed," Anna hissed angrily.

"Do you know what I am?" the man asked.

"A sorcerer," Anna answered.

"A sorcerer? Hmm," the man mused. He turned. "I know you're hiding. I know you've been following," he said to the princes' hiding place. Franz and Hans exchanged looks. Franz shook his head in a subtle signal not to reveal themselves. It could be a bluff, after all. Hans nodded. Suddenly, though, the shadow beneath them opened up! They gasped, falling through, and the next thing they knew they were in front of the man, between him and the girls.

"Shi…" Franz began before biting off the word. He almost went for his sword before recalling it was probably smart to play it like they were undisciplined friends of the two girls.

"You know, others have tried this game before," the man said. "Bringing along protectors."

"Oh, they don't need protectors. We're just the backup," Hans icily said, folding his arms and glaring coldly at the man.

"I have dealt with others who didn't need protectors," the man replied.

"Ah, but have you dealt with others who didn't need protectors but brought backup regardless?" Franz asked. Hans gave his sibling an incredulous glare, unimpressed. "What?" Franz asked. Hans rolled his eyes.

"It won't matter. I will deal with you two just as I dealt with the last one's brother," the man answered. "Into the tower. All of you." Falling back next to Elsa and Anna, Franz and Hans headed in. Elsa and Anna made sure to stay behind the princes as protection, lest the man attempt to kill the two men while they weren't looking. They needed to think fast now. There would be no second chances in this game if they made a mistake.


	9. The Shadow

The Shadow

(A/N: And here is where H.C. Andersen's story comes in. I believe it was called _The Shadow_. Again, very Poesque and one of Andersen's darker fairy tales. Kind of major spoilers for it in here, though. And kind of played around with and on occasion warped the way shadows and darkness and light work for this chapter and a good many of the ones to follow, so yeah.)

The tower was dim, but lit by candles. The candles were the only sign of anything having set foot in this place for years. It was dark, dingy, eerie, and altogether unsettling… And it was the _last_ place they intended to be locked inside. The moment Elsa and Anna entered the tower, Elsa spun around and slammed the doors behind them with her an icy blizzard wind. They heard the man's surprised exclamation. Elsa immediately set to icing over the whole tower to ensure the man _stayed_ out. "Quick, we need to find something that will contain him and his power! Or something that'll end him all the sooner," Anna said.

"Agreed. Anna, with me. We'll search the lower levels, basements, dungeons, this floor, whatnot," Franz said. "Elsa, you and Hans explore the upper levels."

"Alright," Elsa said.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Hans demanded.

"No. Be courteous, Hans," Franz said. "What the snow queen says goes."

"Why don't you…?" Hans began. He took a breath, calming down. Now wasn't the time to get inappropriate. "Fine, whatever. Let's get this done," he said.

"I've locked us in," Elsa said, ensuring she'd frozen the whole tower over completely and left no opening unchecked. "Odds are he'll find a way to enter anyway, but for now we have time."

"Be careful," Franz warned them.

"You too," Elsa replied.

Elsa and Hans started towards the stairs. "Hans!" Franz called out. Hans paused, looking back at his sibling in vague annoyance. He lost his wind when Franz suddenly pulled him into a tight hug. What the hell?!

"What are you doing?" Hans demanded.

Franz pulled away. "I don't want anything to happen to you, understand? I won't bring back a body. I refuse to go home without you alive. Your life ends, my life ends. Don't make me regret this splitting up nonsense. Damn you if you die because of me. Be very, _very_ careful. Do whatever it takes to keep yourself alive," he said.

Hans looked at him silently a moment, shocked by the vehemence in the statement. And reminded very well of the sailor whose brothers he had risked everything to save. Finally he sighed and returned the hug. "I will," he promised, drawing away after the brief contact, still feeling awkward about hugging siblings. It wasn't exactly anything he was used to. "If you return the favor in kind."

"I will," Franz vowed. He turned, hurrying after Anna. Hans watched after him then went to join Elsa.

Frozen

"No wonder the Duke hates magic and magic wielders so much. I'm starting to not be a big fan of them either. Well, Elsa and Mael notwithstanding," Anna said to Franz, rubbing her arms and shivering. Downside of encasing an already cold tower in ice was that it got even colder. She could see her breath, and she definitely wasn't dressed for this. She really hoped she didn't freeze or catch hypothermia or pneumonia. Elsa would never forgive herself for that.

"Here," Franz said, slipping off his grey cloak and giving it to Anna.

"But you'll get cold," Anna protested.

"Not as cold as _you'll_ get," Franz replied. "I'm wearing long sleeves, you aren't."

"True," Anna uneasily said. "But if you start shivering, you're getting it back."

"Fair enough. We'll share," Franz answered, smiling affectionately at her.

Anna smiled back the looked around, frowning. "Wow this place is decrepit. Is this what the homes of bachelors usually look like?" she asked.

"Wouldn't know. We have castle staff picking up after _us_ ," Franz replied, shrugging. "And on occasion Hans, Kelin-Sel, Rhun, or Lars."

"Wow," Anna said, giving him an incredulous look. "Just wow."

"Hey, I'm betting if you and Elsa didn't have servants, your castle would be a mess too," Franz defended.

"No! Well, I mean, I'm not _that_ messy," Anna replied, blushing faintly. She wasn't exactly a neat freak, of course, and she had a habit of tossing things on the floor, she realized. She always meant to pick them up later, though! Wow that was a lame excuse. Franz stopped. Anna looked curiously at him, then ahead. She cringed. "Oh. Creepy staircase. Great," she unenthusiastically said. "Ugh, and what's that smell?" she added, covering her nose and mouth. Franz said noting. She frowned, looking at him. "Franz?"

"Stay behind me," Franz ordered, drawing his sword.

Anna blinked. "Uh, what?" she asked.

"Trust me on this. Stay behind me," Franz repeated. Worry came to Anna's eyes. Something was very wrong, if it was making the prince act like this. She didn't like or trust the change in him. Uneasily she nodded and practically glued herself to his back, sticking close. Carefully Franz started down.

"We need a torch. It's too dark to see," Anna said.

"Do you have a tinder box or matches?" Franz asked.

"No," Anna replied.

"Neither do I, so we're crap out of luck," Franz said.

"Hold on, let me check your pockets," she said, starting to feel around in them. "I mean people hoard stuff, right? At least Kristoff does. Anything he thinks could be useful, he shoves into a pocket. Half the time he doesn't even know what he has."

"Worth a shot," Franz said. He could have put something in there while drunk that he couldn't remember.

"Ah hah!" Anna said, pulling out something. She frowned at it. "Oh great, it's soggy."

Franz took it and frowned. When had his coat gotten wet, again? He shrugged it off, blamed the sea, and opened the book of matches. He picked through them, discarding all the ones that would probably never be able to be used again, and setting aside soggy ones that might work if they dried off. Finally he pulled one out and frowned on it. "Well, this is our best shot," he said, shrugging. He struck it. Nothing. He struck it again and there was a bit of a spark.

"Come on…" Anna willed. Franz struck it a third time. This time a flame lit up! "Yes!" Anna cheered. Quickly she grabbed a torch from the wall and held it out. Swiftly Franz put the flame to it, glad said torch was still functional. They'd have to light others pretty often, though. This thing wouldn't burn forever, but for now it would do fine.

"Let's keep on going," Franz said, staring down again. Anna stuck close to him. This place gave her chills. She didn't like it one bit.

Frozen

Meanwhile, Hans and Elsa made their way up the steps. It wasn't as dark up here as it must be heading down into the bowels of the tower, but it was still difficult to see, even despite the eerily flickering candles that cast shadows all about. "This place… It looks like it's been abandoned for _years_. I mean totally abandoned. No one's lived here. It looks like no one's even entered it for the last _decade_. If not a decade, then five years at least," Elsa remarked. "The only think implying otherwise is these candles, but how were they even lit if no one had been here? They wouldn't have burned for so many years on their own."

"I know. Something's not right. No footsteps in the dust, no uncovered furniture… This may be the place where the murders were committed, but if it is the women were either killed outside or in one specific room. Probably teleported there by that shadow trick of the sorcerer's," Hans agreed.

"If no one's lived here, though, where has the sorcerer been hiding?" Elsa asked.

"I don't know," Hans answered. "But we're going to find out. The sooner the Duke has his answers the better. Then maybe he can let the past go. Stop living in fear and hating people like you and Lars. Then the deal between Arendelle and Weselton can be revisited, closed, and we can all go home with one less headache to worry about."

"What if quitting the war puts the Duke at risk?" Elsa worriedly asked.

"See if I care," Hans answered.

"But I _do_ ," Elsa said, frowning.

"Then my plot worked better than expected," Hans said. "I'd hoped you and Anna would be drawn to him like he was drawn to you."

"You have it all worked out, don't you?" Elsa asked.

"No; but I'm good at _convincing_ people I do. I mold to a situation and no one's the wiser," Hans said. He paused outside of a door and listened at it a moment. He tried the handle, but it was locked.

"What do you think is in there?" Elsa questioned.

"I don't know. Answers, maybe? The murder scene? Evidence that will seal this man's fate?" Hans replied.

"I thought you believed he deserved to die," Elsa said.

"I do. This is your mystery, though, not mine. I'm following _your_ lead," Hans replied, still fiddling with the door. "You want him alive, we'll do our best to help you take him alive."

"Here, let me," Elsa said. She sent out an ice attack that struck the lock and shattered it.

Hans blinked. "Wow. Nice work," he said. He really had to get Franz to give him a crash course on lock picking, though. For future reference.

"Thanks," Elsa replied, smiling. Hans pushed open the door and looked cautiously inside.

Frozen

Anna and Franz reached the bottom of the staircase. The smell was horrible down here, Anna noted. Franz warily scanned the room and froze. In the dim glow of a dying fireplace there was a chair. In the chair sat a figure who looked to be sleeping. "Is that him?" Anna whispered.

"It is," Franz replied, recognizing the parts of the outfit he could make out. "Stay back. Be ready to run if anything goes wrong."

"Be careful," Anna pled.

Franz nodded and started forward carefully, being sure to muffle his steps. He gripped his sword tightly, spinning it around once to be sure his hold was firm. Nearing, he tentatively reached out and took the back of the chair. Drawing a breath he spun it around and prepared to stab. He cried out in alarm and terror, leaping back about three feet and dropping the torch which promptly went out. "Oh god!" he exclaimed.

"Franz?!" Anna worriedly said, hurrying forward.

"Stay back!" Franz ordered.

Anna stopped fearfully. "What happened?" she demanded. "What is it?"

"It-it's the sorcerer alright," Franz stammered. "But we were wrong. The Duke was wrong. He isn't the killer."

"What do you mean?!" Anna impatiently demanded. "We saw him!"

"He's dead, Anna! He's been dead somewhere between five years and a decade!" Franz said. "That's the smell you smelled. Decomposing body!"

"What? But-but that's impossible. Ghosts don't exist, and he felt real and tangible when he took my hand. I mean… What is even happening?! How can this be? If the sorcerer wasn't the murderer, if it wasn't him that took me and Elsa, then what _was_ it?!" Anna demanded.

"Whatever it needs to be," a voice said from behind. Anna and Franz gasped, turning. Anna screamed. Right behind her lingered a massive and towering figure in shadow!

"Anna!" Franz exclaimed, racing towards her as the thing seized her arm. Dread filled the princess. This wasn't a person. This was something else entirely.

"Let go!" she screamed, jerking violently away and stumbling back. Franz caught her and pushed her quickly behind him, slicing at the thing. The blade went right through it and the figure laughed, melding into the ground. "What is it?!"

"A living shadow," the voice said again. They turned quickly. It was behind Anna a second time. Franz quickly pulled her close, eyes wide. A sword wouldn't damage it and he couldn't let it grab the princess under any circumstances. Or him for that matter. "I am the shadow."

"The Shadow?" Franz questioned uneasily.

"The learned man's shadow, once. Humph, the Duke and company thought he was a sorcerer. Hah! He was a learned man and a writer. I was his shadow until one night, well… I wasn't. I separated myself from his body and disappeared into oblivion."

"How?" Anna asked.

"Does it matter? Here I am," the shadow replied. "When a desire is strong enough, you can lose hold on it. When you've crossed powers in the past best left uncrossed, things go very, very wrong. After that incident, and after a new shadow grew back for him, he came to this place. I followed. In a sense. When finally I returned to him again, I was tangible. Alive. Here. _This_."

"But-but none of it makes sense. When? How? What happened to him?!" Anna demanded.

"The murders began, and he was blamed. He hid for a while, back in his northern lands where he was born, until around the fifth girl," the shadow said.

"The one with markings cut into her," Anna realized.

"He became ill, while in hiding, and sickly. He only saw the good in the world, and was a very moral man, to be sure. The darkness the people sensed wasn't him. It was me. Following closely after him. I told him I would bring him to a place of healing if he would agree to reverse rolls with me for a time and become like a shadow. I did so desire a soul. He agreed. So trusting, but by that time also more wary. That place of healing was here. He became even more way. I assured him no one would know him. In this place we met a princess of another land, sent here to be hidden from a war going on in her home country. We danced with her. I came to love her. _He_ came to love her. Love her so much that he stopped hiding the moment I told him I would marry her and give him a high position in her court as my own shadow. He realized, then, what I had become, and the fate that awaited him. To become the soul to my man, the shadow to my visage. Angered and driven by adoration of the girl, he very nearly cast me back into oblivion, and that would never do. He thought he could protect her. He almost did. He cut the marks into her, telling her to be wary of him or anything that seemed to be him because there was a creature out there hunting her and him both. That proved to be his downfall. I went to her and made a scene, told her my 'shadow' had begun to think it was real and some other such nonsense. She bought into it and she had the 'shadow' executed quietly, so as not to enrage the peasants and young men and women of Weselton who loved the learned man. By the time she and I were married, he was dead… He was dead and she was fair game. Everywhere the marks didn't touch was mine to ruin beyond the point of recognition. That is all you need to know. With her death died every part of him that was still left, and his reputation became mine to taint and ruin so that the world turned on even his memory. When the world turns even on your memory, you are truly a monster who can never find redemption. Now _your_ bodies will join his. Well, at least the bodies of you brothers. You sisters, however, will be found in no pretty state. You can't fight me, young man. Surrender yourself and her to my clutches."

"Are you kidding me? _No_ , you psychotic son of a b***ch!" Franz freaked, near panic.

"Then you will be kept alive long enough to see your brother suffer immeasurably; and when finally he has succumb, you will feel his pain and join him shortly after," the shadow said. With an eerie and horrifying screech, it lunged, leaving behind the image of a man to become fully shadow. Or rather, almost fully.

Frozen

Anna screamed in terror. Franz kept her behind him and moved swiftly, suddenly kicking out the dim fireplace. The shadow screeched again, this time in horror as the darkness came, and it fell back out of it to the nearest form of light. "Douse the torches!" Franz shouted. Anna had already grabbed one and was putting it out. The two stood side by side, sticking close and watching the pacing shadow in terror. Its eyes glowed red and murderous, and it tried to reach out for them, but no matter what it did, it couldn't get close. In darkness there was no light in which the shadow could go on. With another outraged screech, it vanished!

"Where did it go?!" Anna demanded.

Franz's eyes widened in fear. "Hans and Elsa!" he exclaimed.

Anna caught her breath, paling. "Elsa!" she shouted, racing for the steps.

Franz followed closely. "Hans!" he shouted, dousing the few torches down here as he went. They needed to save their siblings!

Frozen

Hans pulled another book from the shelf, frowning deeply and reading through it. This marked about the fifth book they'd glanced through in this room. "This doesn't make sense. This man was no sorcerer. He was a scholar. I mean he was edgy and new, and I definitely see why the parents and older people of Weselton saw him as they did—he was pretty radical after all—but he definitely wasn't the type to go on a killing spree. From what I can tell he was one of the most moral and decent people I've ever heard of! And look here, this girl he mentions. She's written among the victims he writes down in this other book. Her name is circled like a hundred times. Cross it with this passage, you see why. 'I have to save her. I have to save her from the darkness he has become. But what if it isn't enough? It has to be! I have to save her'," Hans read.

"He loved her. He didn't kill her, he tried to protect her with the symbols cut into her body," Elsa realized. "But Hans, we all saw the man. This picture of him? It's exactly like the person who came to us. It had to be him. What _else_ could it be?"

"I don't know, and whatever it is, it doesn't sit well with me," Hans replied.

"Do you think… do you think it was a ghost?" Elsa asked. It sounded silly to ask, but she didn't have another answer.

"No. There are no such things," Hans replied.

"Then what?" Elsa asked.

"I don't know, Elsa, okay? I have no clue," Hans replied, pulling out a sixth book. He began reading through it and stiffened. "Though I might be getting one," he added.

"What?" Elsa asked, coming over and reading through the book as well. "'My shadow separated from me'?" she read questioningly. "What does that even mean?"

Hans flipped a few more pages and stopped. "'It's back. It's tangible. It seems like an alright fellow, it was my shadow after all, but there is something dangerous about him. He speaks in ways I do not understand. He says things that should not sound as frightening as they do. My shadow has become its own entity, and while it plays cordial now, I fear its intensions are far from peaceful'," Hans read.

"A-a shadow? Was he serious?" Elsa incredulously asked. "How does a shadow separate from your body?"

"I have no clue," Hans answered. "It may have to do with the keeper of shadows. One of the stories I heard when I was little was of a caretaker named Pharabu, who watched over the shadow realm. Maybe that has no bearing on it and some magic was at play after all. If there was magic, though, it didn't belong to this learned man. I don't know _who_ it belonged to. I can't say." Part of him dreaded it was the wicked sprite, but he couldn't assume that everything evil they crossed stemmed from him. For instance, Xe had been his own evil. "I have no idea what happened here or why, I just know in my gut that whoever this man was, he was no sorcerer—though he may have picked up some magic or chants or spells on his travels, given he used one to try and save the fifth victim—and he was no murderer."

"We need to show this to the Duke," Elsa said. "If we're dealing with a living shadow… Somehow I doubt my magic is going to stand to it. This was a mistake. We have to get our siblings, get out of here, and figure out some other way to deal with…"

"Me?" a voice cut off. Both gasped, spinning around with eyes wide. Their mouths dropped. Behind them stood a living shadow in the form of the learned man! Hans drew his sword and Elsa prepared to use her magic. Neither of them believed for a second weapons and ice would hold up to this thing, but they couldn't just give up and let it do whatever it would to them.

"What are you? Where is the man you once belonged to?" Elsa asked.

"He has been dead many years now," the shadow remarked. "He was a smart man. So smart he was stupid and naïve, so he paid the price. He tried to break free of me, you know, when I offered to make him into my own shadow. Tried to break free and failed. I had him executed before he had a chance. On her unwitting orders. Doppelgangers are so much fun, wouldn't you agree? He was brave, in the face of death. He knew what was coming to him and he stayed resolved against me to the bitter end, even when he knew there was no hope of anyone believing he was the man, not the shadow. Not even her. It was a tragic thing, really. Well, not for me, but for anyone who knew the whole story. Or even the gist of it."

"Know your place, shadow," Hans coldly said.

"You like to test the powers that be, don't you boy? It's very stupid of you. One day you'll test something you can't defeat. You may have just now. Interfering whelp, foolish maiden, ice and snow and steel will not touch me. How does it feel? To know you face an enemy you cannot harm but that can harm you?" the shadow asked.

"Perhaps our stand against you is doomed to fail, but you'd better believe we'll keep you back as long as we can. We're no easy targets," Elsa answered.

"I'm a shadow. All targets are easy to me. I can simply become one with _yours_ ," the shadow said, disappearing. The two looked around fearfully.

"Where is he?" Elsa demanded.

"I don't… Elsa, behind you!" Hans suddenly said.

Elsa spun and gasped. From her own shadow rose the shadow creature! She cried out as he reached for her, striking with ice that, of course, did nothing. However, she'd gotten out of the way. The shadow faded again. "Hans, we can't fight this! We have to get out!"

"There's no getting out anymore," Hans gravely stated. "Wait… Darkness. We need darkness! The shadow can't live without the light! Its human form… It's weakening, Elsa! It can't keep a tangible form forever without a soul to go with it!"

"And he killed the soul he needed," she realized. "He's seeking another."

"We have to make this place as dark as a tomb and fast. Run!" Hans said. Immediately both bolted for the door, hoping to reach the darkness of the hallway. Suddenly the thing appeared in front of them with a cruel laugh and struck! They cried out in fear, leaping back. The shadow lunged.

Frozen

All at once the door was thrown open and the torches in the room were blown out. The shadow screeched in rage, vanishing. "Elsa!" Anna exclaimed as she and Franz raced in.

"Hans!" Franz said with a gasp of relief. "The accused man is dead. His body is downstairs. He must have been gone for five years, if not more!"

"So we've been told," Elsa answered. "We have to get out. Fast!" She didn't like to do it, dissipating the ice wall about the tower meant light poured in wherever there were windows, but they couldn't lock themselves away in this tower in complete darkness for the rest of their lives and simply hope it would keep something that couldn't even technically be killed at bay. Immediately she dissipated the ice wall around the tower so that light could pour in from the few windows situated in it. It would put them in more danger, but they needed to get out and rethink this whole mess. They'd made a mistake, the one thing they couldn't afford to make. Now they had to hope to the gods they could correct it before it was too late. Immediately the four ran from the room and headed for the stairs down.

"Stay close and in the dark as much as you can!" Franz said to Hans and Elsa.

"Thank you, Franz, I never would have guessed that. It's not like I've figured it out already. It's not like I've had twenty-three years of tutoring or know anything about light and shadows, after all," Hans sarcastically said.

"Hey, don't get smart mouthed with me, little boy," Franz warned, frowning at his sibling.

"Please spike him," Hans said to Elsa.

She smirked, rolling her eyes, then looked ahead and gasped. "Franz, Anna, the ground!" she shouted. Hans quickly looked and gasped. Franz and Anna felt the shaking beneath their feet and cried out in terror, trying to slide to a stop. As the ground gave out, they both made a desperate leap for Hans and Elsa. The two dove to catch the hands of their siblings, but it was to no avail. Franz slipped from Hans's grasp and fell, grabbing for a solid ledge but only getting Anna's ankle. She screamed, pulled from Elsa's grasp, and fell with Franz. "No!" Elsa cried.

"Franz, Anna!" Hans shouted, fear in his eyes. They didn't have time to see or hear how far the drop was, or what had befallen their siblings. They were in light suddenly, and now they were fair game. The shadow sprang from the ground, grabbing for them. They cried out in alarm, falling back then scrambling up and racing the way they'd come, up higher into the tower. They weren't exactly sure how that would help them, but there was no going down _this_ way. Maybe they could find another way out by going up.

Frozen

Franz struck the ground painfully and cried out. Anna landed on him right after, winding him. "I'm sorry!" Anna exclaimed, quickly scrambling to get off of him. He'd cushioned her fall, and wow was that ever a fall. How was he even alive? "Are you okay? Is anything broken?" Anna fearfully asked.

"No, and probably," Franz answered, coughing and shaking.

"I'm so sorry!" Anna said, covering her mouth in horror.

"It's alright, princess. Better me than you. It wasn't your fault. Had you fallen first, I would have tried to place myself beneath you anyway," Franz assured. They heard rumbling and looked up. Anna's eyes widened and she screamed. Franz gawked in horror. This wasn't happening now. The roof was collapsing in on them! He didn't have time to second guess himself, he just acted. "Anna, get down!" he shouted, seizing the princess and pulling her down, quickly throwing himself over her to shield her from the falling stones as best he could.

"Franz!" Anna exclaimed, fearful for him on realizing what he was trying to do. The next moment rocks were raining down and both cried out and covered their heads. Anna cursed the prince a thousand times for his self-sacrificing act and prayed he'd be okay. If he died because of her, she would never forgive herself and she doubted Hans would either. Not that she cared what _he_ thought, but still! Gritting her teeth, she waited for the collapse to stop and hoped for the best.


	10. Escape the Tower

Escape the Tower

Elsa and Hans raced up through the tower, determined to find a way out. Unfortunately, the higher they got the more windows there seemed to be, and the more places for the shadow to hide. How high _was_ this tower? Suddenly there was a door in front of them. Their eyes widened hopefully. Maybe it was a room! Preferably one without windows or light. Hans threw open the door and the two darted out only to slide to stops with gasps. They looked around, eyes wide. They were outside, but outside on a balcony with no parapet, overlooking Weselton, that was right in the twilight sun when shadows abounded. "Oh no," Elsa hollowly said.

Hans looked around in horror. This couldn't be happening. "We have to get away from here!" the prince insisted.

"To where?" Elsa asked, realizing immediately there was no way out. They could climb up the walls, but for what reason? To reach the roof? It was still shadowy there, and on the roof they'd have even less room anyway. Every darkness that existed about this time of day was primed for a shadow creature to thrive in. Hans looked around and realized she was right. The door was thrown open again, and into the light stepped the shadow. Hans and Elsa spun around and slowly backed away from it.

"You have nowhere to run," it said. "Give yourselves up to me!"

"Get back, creature!" Hans ordered. "We aren't your toys to play with." Elsa looked back towards the edge of the balcony. This… could work.

"Yes you are," the creature stated. With a war roar it lunged, talon-like fingers outstretched.

"Come on!" Elsa said, seizing Hans's arm and pulling him towards the ledge.

"What are you…? Are you crazy?!" Hans demanded, immediately realizing what she was doing.

"Jump!" she said, leaping from the balcony, pulling him with her whether he liked it or not. He cried out in alarm. The shadow man, stunned, looked over the ledge in disbelief. Elsa suddenly began conjuring an ice slide! The creature roared in anger and leapt after them.

Hans and Elsa slid down the slide rapidly. "This is crazy!" Hans said.

"Even crazier is we're not using it to get all the way down," Elsa said.

"What?!" Hans demanded.

"We have to find Anna and Franz!" Elsa said, levelling the slide and swiftly conjuring up a sort of ice battle field suspended high in the air.

"You're totally out of your mind," Hans numbly said, looking down uneasily. "But then it isn't like any of this is making sense, so you know what, I'm not going to question it." She smiled at him. He smirked back. The two turned to face the shadow following them.

Frozen

The shadow reached the battle field. "Now! Get up to the window of the library!" Elsa shouted to Hans, immediately conjuring up an ice platform for him. He ran to it and leapt on. Elsa conjured another, which he leapt onto in turn. Then another, then another. The prince easily kept up to the platforms being raised, while the Shadow was kept busy dodging them and trying to figure out and understand what they gained by returning to the tower. There was no reason to this madness. It hated that it couldn't see the motive behind the actions! It screeched in rage and immediately raced to catch Elsa, who erected a barrier in front of the shadow. The shadow, growing more and more uneasy that it couldn't figure out this plan, went after Hans, sending up shadow fingers to reach out to gab the prince.

The prince dodged the shadow's fingers with a grin, then reached the last platform Elsa built up. From it, the prince leapt to the library window and caught the sill. He pulled himself up and into it nimbly. Elsa smiled then erected a platform beneath her own feet just as the shadow jumped at her. It struck the platform instead and hissed in anger, quickly following. The platform grew high into the air and as soon as she deemed it tall enough, she too leapt for the window. Hans caught her and pulled her in swiftly. Elsa looked down and quickly called forth an ice wall to connect the pillars she'd made into something of an elaborate maze. She covered over the top, so it would be in darkness. Of course light shone through ice, so there would be _some_ brightness, but though it might not vanquish or trap the thing, the shadow would at least be forced to stick to those light sources for everything it was worth while it navigated the maze. That would buy Hans and Elsa time. Not a lot, but enough to find their siblings and maybe figure out how to stop this thing.

"There has to be a book in here or something. Something that tells us how it can be defeated," Hans stated.

"Search for it. I'll find Anna and Franz," Elsa replied.

"No. No more splitting up. I'll come with you to find them. The library will still be here when we get back," Hans said.

"And if it isn't?" Elsa demanded.

Hans could think of nothing to say. She made to leave. Wait, he figured it out! He reached out, catching her arm lightly. She looked back at him, eyes narrowed guardedly at the contact. "If the shadow knew there was something in this room that could be its downfall, the library would have been burned long ago," Hans said. "Stay with me to search for the solution, or let me come with you to search for our siblings. Separating isn't an option."

Elsa was quiet, looking at his hand on her arm, then faced him again. "Fine," she agreed. "Come with me to find Franz and Anna." Hans nodded and immediately released her, racing out the door at her side.

Frozen

The rumbling stopped after what seemed like hours, but could only have been seconds. There was no movement to be seen, prince and princess buried beneath the rubble. Nothing stirred for upwards of ten minutes. Suddenly, though, a movement. A slab of granite was being pushed. It slowly moved and a hand stuck out. Soon after, Anna scrambled out from under the rubble coughing for air and waving away the dust. She gasped, tuning back to the pile. "Franz!" she exclaimed, diving onto it again and frantically trying to unbury the prince. "Franz!" she called. That he wasn't answering terrified her, frankly. "Come on, come on," she willed, throwing aside chunks of debris as fast as she possibly could. Soon she managed to uncover his head and part of his upper body. She gasped fearfully.

Franz was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound. She tried to move more debris off of his body, but it was too heavy. Soon she gave up, panting. She needed help. She had to find Hans and Elsa before the shadow found Franz! But what if it found him after she'd left? He'd have no one there to defend him. She looked around, thinking up a way out. She could call for her sister and Hans, but the shadow might hear and come instead. Oh god, what was she supposed to do? She had to get help _somehow_. She turned back to the prince then knelt next to him, removing his cloak from herself and draping it over his body. She removed a sash from her dress and carefully wrapped it around his head injury, trying frantically to remember how to tend to an injured person. The palace doctor had liked teaching her things like this when she'd been little, but it had been years since his last lessons, and she'd never actually had to put any of it into practice before. She hoped she was doing the right things.

Anna looked at the rubble. The debris had to come off of him, but moving either him or it could just hurt him more. Of course if no help came, or she didn't get any, he was going to be a little worse than hurt. She looked at him again. "Franz?" she said, lightly placing a hand on his face and patting it. "Franz!"

He moaned slightly. Good. He was alive. She could have cheered. He seemed like he was trying to wake up. His eyes flickered and fell on her. He looked puzzled, then worried, then alarmed. He couldn't move! "Why can't I move?" he immediately demanded.

"You're buried up to the chest in debris," Anna answered. "I've gotten as much of it off as I can, but-but I can't move the bigger things. You're hurt. You need help. Oh but I can't leave you because then maybe the shadow will find you, and I can't call for Elsa and Hans because it might hear and… I don't know what to do…"

"Are you alright?" Franz demanded.

"Shaken, bruised, sore absolutely everywhere, but hey, I'm still moving," Anna answered, cracking her back with a grimace.

Franz eyed the area as best he could. It was dark here. The shadow couldn't come… Unless it dropped a light down here… But maybe it was a chance they could take. He knew he needed help. Then again, sending Anna to find Hans and Elsa on her own might be a death sentence to the princess. He couldn't let that happen. "Find a bar or a stick or something long and strong," he said.

"What?" Anna asked.

"You're going to use it as a lever to get this stuff off of me," Franz explained.

"Moving it off of you could hurt you more!" Anna protested.

"Anna, I'd rather be paralyzed than dead. At least right now," Franz said.

"And if you change your mind later?" Anna demanded.

"You did what you could to try and save me," Franz answered. "You'll have that respite, at least, if I should at that point manage to orchestrate a not-so-accidental fatal accident for myself." She felt her heart drop. He'd alluded to suicide?! She didn't think so!

"Franz…" she began.

"This debris has to come off one way or another," Franz said. "No matter how it happens, we don't have time to get it professionally done and so the risk's about the same either way, whether you get my brother and Elsa or not."

"Okay," Anna relented. Immediately she began scouting around and had soon set up the system to move the debris. She grunted and pushed as hard as she could. Slowly the debris began to move. Franz cried out in pain. She wanted to stop, but if she stopped pushing now, it would fall back on top of him and maybe crush him. She gritted her teeth. "Come on, come on," she willed.

"You can do it, Anna. Just a little further," Franz encouraged.

Anna grimaced. She'd never even known she _had_ this much strength in her. "Come on!" she shouted, shoving down on it with all the power she could muster. She screamed as the debris rolled off of the prince and the stick, sending her falling to the ground. "Ow," she groaned, raising herself up off of the ground. She gasped, looking over at Franz. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I can breathe better now. Nice job," he said. He felt freer, at least. He was also acutely aware of how much pain he was in. Oh please don't let anything be broken…

Anna scrambled over to him. "Can you sit?" she asked.

"Help me," Franz said. She went to him and started to help him up, supporting him as best she could. With him helping her, she managed to get him turned over and into a sitting position.

"Can you feel everything?" Anna questioned.

"I can, thankfully," Franz answered, moving his extremities just to be certain.

"Thank goodness," Anna said in a breath. "Can you walk?" she asked.

"Right now? No," Franz answered. "Still dazed. You need to find Hans and Elsa."

"I'm not leaving you in this state," Anna answered. Hans and Elsa would be fine, but Franz wouldn't. Not if the shadow came.

"Anna…" Franz began.

"Anna! Franz!" a voice called. They fell silent and listened. Soon the voice repeated, "Anna! Franz!"

"We're…!" Anna began. Franz quickly covered her mouth. She looked at him curiously.

"It could be a trick of the shadow's," Franz seriously warned. Anna paled and nodded in understanding. Franz removed his hand and listened.

"What if it's really them?" Anna asked.

"They know where we fell," Franz replied. " _It_ doesn't." Anna swallowed, looking up again fearfully. There was a sound from above, rocks falling. Anna and Franz shrunk close together, watching fearfully to see what looked over.

Frozen

Hans and Elsa moved through the palace quickly, searching. "Where did they fall?" Hans said.

"We're close," Elsa recalled. She hurried down another corridor and stopped. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing. Quickly she and Hans ran towards it. They slowed, closer to the edge, just in case. "Anna, Franz?" Elsa called. This marked the third time. No response. Hans got on hands and knees and began carefully crawling towards the ledge, just in case the floor was still unstable. Cautiously he peered over, Elsa ready to attack if something went wrong.

"Hans!" Anna's voice suddenly exclaimed.

Hans started and looked back at Elsa. "They're alive," he said, beckoning her over.

Elsa gasped, getting to hands and knees and quickly scrambling towards the ledge. She peered over too. "Elsa!" Anna cheered. Elsa grinned in relief and formed an ice slide down. Quickly her and Hans slipped down it and went to their siblings.

"You're okay!" Elsa said, hugging Anna tight.

"I am, but Franz might be hurt," Anna said. "I mean I bandaged his head wound, but a lot of rubble fell on him. I mean he's not paralyzed, but something might be broken and I just don't know!"

Hans started and looked at his sibling, who looked as if sitting was tiring him out. He went to Franz. "Can you walk?" he asked.

"I can try," Franz answered. Hans bent to help him stand. Franz cried out, putting too much weight on a leg. "Dammit," he hissed, holding it. Hans inwardly cursed. There was definitely a leg broken, if nothing else. Maybe some cracked ribs too, given how raspy Franz's breathing sounded.

"We have to get out of here," Hans said seriously to Elsa and Anna. They nodded in agreement and Elsa squinted ahead into the darkness. "There's a door," she said, pointing it out. "It might lead to a hall or another balcony or even outside."

"Let's go then," Anna said, moving to help Hans with Franz. As swiftly as they could, they all got to the door. Elsa took a breath and opened it up… Only to scream as something reached in, seizing her and pulling her away from the others!

Frozen

"Elsa!" Anna screamed.

"Hold him!" Hans ordered, letting Anna take Franz's weight and darting after the queen. Anna gasped, watching after them fearfully.

"Keep moving!" Franz ordered. Anna nodded and hurriedly helped him limp into the next hallway as well.

The shadow threw Elsa down and began swirling all around, dancing in the light. "Stupid woman. Suffer!" the shadow hissed in a garbled and warped tone. It leapt at her with wicked cackle!

"Queen Elsa!" Hans exclaimed suddenly, getting between her and the shadow. The shadow tackled him, seemed vaguely surprised a moment, then decided this was as good as anything so focused attention on the prince.

"Hans!" Elsa exclaimed, staggering to her feet and running to help him as Franz and Anna made the scene.

Franz cursed the fact he didn't have a crossbow right about now. Not that it would hurt the shadow, but if nothing else it might distract it! Elsa quickly began using her powers to blow out all the candles. She also began building up snow around the windows so the light wouldn't get through. The shadow was ripping into the prince. They wouldn't make it in time!

Suddenly heavy blankets fell over the windows from the outside, drowning the hall in darkness. The shadow screeched in rage and pain. Hans felt the claws falling away from him and the weight of the thing leaving. He gasped, staggering up. He nearly fell, but Elsa steadied him. Hans shook his head to shake off the daze and looked in shock at the heavy blankets. "What on earth…?" he began.

"The Duke of Weselton," Elsa realized, eyes widening in hope.

"Let's not waste this opportunity, then!" Anna said, stumbling over with Franz. "He's given us a way out, so let's get out!"

"We still don't know how to stop this thing!" Hans protested.

"We can't stay here anymore with the shadow after us," Franz argued.

"Elsa, Anna, take him out. I'm looking once more at the library," Hans said.

"Hans, you're being a fool!" Elsa protested.

"No kidding," he replied. He didn't give them time to argue, though, just ran back the way they'd come.

"Hans!" Franz called.

"Let him go," Anna said. "He can handle himself."

"Against _this_?!" Franz demanded.

"I'll go with him. Again," Elsa said. "I told him I would." Kind of. To be specific, the choice he gave her was 'stay with me to look for a solution' or 'let me come with you to find our siblings', so technically this didn't count, but she considered it included in the package anyway.

"Forget it," Hans said, returning suddenly and looking pale.

"Forget what?" Elsa asked. "Did something happen?"

"Just trust me on this," Hans replied. "Let's get out. Now." They weren't sure they _wanted_ to know.

"What did you see?" Franz asked, noticing his brother's shaken look.

"The learned man's body, decay and all, standing at the foot of the steps," Hans hollowly replied. "Before collapsing to the ground and dissolving into dust…" He trailed off, looking up. "It screamed, Franz… The body screamed…"

"I want to get out of here," Anna fearfully said, voice breaking fearfully.

"The body is downstairs, decaying in a chair… What you saw may just have been the shadow losing it's last hold on the man's image. It didn't gain its own shadow in time, so now it's gone. Forever, hopefully," Franz said seriously. If the shadow could no longer keep up the host body image at all, then it couldn't possibly survive as anything more than an inanimate shadow, after all… Right…?

Hans drew a shaky breath. "I'm with Anna. I want out of here. Now," he said. He wasn't passing the place that body—or image of a body—had fallen. He'd rather be tarred and feathered.

Frozen

"Prepare to advance!" the Duke ordered the soldiers and guards he'd brought with him to the tower.

When the royals hadn't come back within the first few hours with at least a progress update, fear and panic had overwhelmed and the Duke had readied a battalion to march on that damnable tower. He hadn't the foggiest idea how throwing blankets over the windows was supposed to work, but this strange book he'd found hidden in Weselton's archives had a picture of this place with blankets thrown over every window, so he'd gone with his gut and decided to trust the creepy and old looking writings. Which, in retrospect, probably was a stupid thing to do, but at this point there was nothing left to lose. If there was a chance the blankets would somehow magically stop this sorcerer, he would use them, loathe as he was to use magic of any sort.

The men prepared to enter the tower. Just then the door burst open and all of them spun to face the threat. The Duke's eyes widened. "Lower your weapons!" he commanded, seeing immediately who those who had exited were. "Elsa, Anna, Hans, Franz!" he exclaimed in relief, seeing the four.

"Get us away from here. Now," Elsa said fearfully.

"More importantly, help my brother," Hans said.

The Duke, blinking blankly, shook out of the shock and waved for his men to help Franz. Quickly they moved to the injured prince, bringing him to a horse and helping him onto it. "What happened?" the Duke demanded.

"It's a long, long story," Elsa answered.

"Dear Duke, if you hadn't come when you did.." Anna began shakily. She took a breath. "If you hadn't covered those windows when you did, either Hans or Elsa or maybe even all of us would be dead by now."

"Good god, what did you face in there?" the Duke worriedly questioned.

"We'll tell you. When we're away from here and safe again," Elsa answered, looking loathingly back at the tower. The Duke nodded. He wouldn't push them for answers until they were ready.


	11. Doppelganger

Doppelganger

(A/N: Insert another H.C. Andersen quote in this. Now we see just what kind of power they're dealing with in the shadow.)

The Duke stood sat on his balcony railing with Elsa and Anna close at hand, taking in everything they had told him. "So then the sorcerer…" he began.

"Wasn't a sorcerer after all. No. He was just a man. A learned one, but a man nonetheless," Anna answered. "But his shadow… That was something else entirely. That was the darkness you and the other mature adults and parents sensed. I have no idea what dark magic he crossed, or who he ticked off or offended, but it cost him everything. His life, his identity, the woman he loved… Even the memory of his existence… All of it tainted… He was innocent…"

"And now his body rots alone in that godforsaken tower while the townsfolk go on slandering his memory and name," Elsa said, a hint of anger in her voice. It wasn't fair! She knew life was unfair at the best of times, but even still. Couldn't just one respite be given?

The Duke looked towards the tower. "It will be buried properly," he finally said. Elsa started and looked at him. Gratefulness filled her eyes and she nodded. The Duke watched the tower silently. It wouldn't be a pleasant task, to recover a decaying body and bury it, but he felt he owed the man as much for how greatly he'd been wronged. "He was a writer too?" the Duke mused.

"Some of the books were amazing. And they were so hopeful, and in them was written all the good he saw in the world and the joy and hope and beautiful things," Elsa said, smiling. Her smile fell sadly. "But it seems not many were willing to read that sort of stuff."

"A pity," the Duke said. "The world could use more of it. I may have to move his collection into Weselton's own libraries. May do the people good." Weselton had a grand and wonderful library.

"Hans collected his journals," Elsa remarked. "He found himself very intrigued with the man's story. Said something about it being enough writing material to keep him busy for days. He's working on a story about the man and the shadow, I think. Or will be. He's considering it, if nothing else."

"Such odd places that boy finds inspiration," the Duke remarked, shaking his head. Elsa smiled to herself, remembering their brief conversation.

 _"_ _You really found inspiration, didn't you?" she remarked after he told her of the journals and mentioned writing about the man and shadow._

 _"_ _You have no idea," Hans answered. "This man's life… It's something worth remembering. That it was tainted like it was…" The prince ruefully shook his head. "But at least, through my writing, people can know the truth of it. Maybe one day the damage to his memory will be undone, and they'll see he was a good man in the end. Even if his story shows that good doesn't always win, it will also show that even if it doesn't, memory will live on. The truth of his life was worth finding. Maybe if people realize that, they'll start to look deeper into the stories and memories of many a dead man who died vilified when they may have been the hero all along… He is worth remembering…"_

 _"_ _Like you?" Elsa asked._

 _Hans stiffened and was silent a long moment. After a moment he turned to her. "Do you really see a good man and a man worth remembering when you look at me?" he answered doubtfully._

 _She tilted her head. "I see someone who **could** be, if he let himself," Elsa answered after a moment._

 _"_ _You're as naïve as Anna," Hans scoffed._

 _"_ _And you're as stubborn," she said with a sigh. Hans chuckled dryly. Maybe in a sense he was. He turned back to the journals. "What made you think to use this event as inspiration for your next work?" she wondered._

 _"_ _Everything you look at can become a fairy tale, and you can get a story from everything you touch," Hans answered._

 _"_ _I like that," she remarked. He smiled at her. She smiled softly back. After a moment they suddenly seemed to realize just who they were smiling at and started, quickly turning away from each other and awkwardly clearing their throats. Hans went back to the dead man's journals. "I'll, um, g-go fill in the Duke," Elsa said._

 _"_ _Y-yeah, do that," Hans replied, cursing the heat he felt in his cheeks. Elsa nodded and quickly left, shutting the door behind her._

Frozen

Hans scribbled away on the parchment with his quill. He paused, thinking of where to go with this story, and began writing again. Best to keep it as close to the truth as possible. The man deserved that much, at least. He paused, frowning. Why was he getting an eerie feeling up his spine? He turned quickly and looked around. Nothing was there. He raised an eyebrow and cringed. He was just on edge, he told himself. He just needed to get some rest. He'd go to sleep after he finished this paragraph.

"You know, I kind of like this body better," a voice said.

Hans stiffened and leapt up, drawing his sword and spinning around. He looked frantically about. What was that? "Who's there?!" he called sharply. He'd definitely heard something. Something that sounded too much like him for him to be okay with. Nothing replied. He looked uneasily at his shadow and moved around a bit. It followed his motions well enough. He knelt by it, resting his hand on it. It didn't move. Hans stood uneasily up. He must be losing his mind… But somehow he doubted that.

"It's younger. Fresher. And the mind it belongs to…" the voice said, followed by a dark chuckle. "It's a playground the likes of which I've never experienced."

Hans paled, realizing what this meant. "Oh my god…" he began. Suddenly the shadow began to detach from him and rise. Hans gasped, backing away fearfully. "S**t!" he freaked, grabbing up his things on the desk then immediately darting around the figure as it began to laugh, slowly forming. He slammed the door behind him, locking it, and raced down the hall. "Franz! Elsa! Anna! Duke!" he shouted, frantic to alert someone, _anyone_ , of the compromising position he was in.

"You think you can escape your shadow that easily, prince of the Southern Isles? I don't think so!" the voice said. The figure - _himself_ \- leapt from the ground in front of him in an exact likeness, grinning wickedly. Hans slid to a stop with a gasp and leapt back barely in time to avoid getting slashed. "Hmm… I can't figure out how your mind works," the shadow mused. "But I can get enough of the superficial that I could probably fool even your own brother. After all, the superficial is all you've ever let anyone see, isn't it? Even your siblings. Stand still and die. It isn't as if you'll be missed."

Hans glanced over at a candle then suddenly jumped at it, extinguishing it. Sharply he looked back and started. The doppelganger was still there! The Prince's eyes widened. "How are you…?" he began. He trailed off. Wait… Oh no.

"Because you're still here, I'm still here," the shadow replied. "I have a chance to get a soul with you. You aren't a dead and decaying body, and in your form I'm as close to human as a non-human can get. Light and darkness will not affect me anymore. It's best you make yourself my shadow and be done with it."

"If you're as close to human as a non-human can get, then you can also die like us," Hans hissed.

"No, I'm afraid I can't," the shadow answered. "Now… Vanish!" It lunged at Hans. Hans cried out in terror and prepared to fight back.

Frozen

The next day found the Duke, the Arendelle sisters, Franz, and Hans seated at the table in private, sharing a meal. Elsa was quiet. Theoretically, today was the day she was meant to die. She didn't want to bring it up to ask if it was still on lest doing so hurt the Duke. Anna was also obviously uneasy, but so far she was managing to keep quiet. Franz was very well aware of the awkwardness in the air, and very aware of Hans's silence. He glanced over at his sibling, who looked shaken. "Something wrong, Hans?" he asked, trying to break the awkward quiet.

"Huh? Who? Wrong? With me? N-no. Nothing," Hans answered, startled out of his train of thought.

Franz looked incredulous. "Then why are you so jittery?" he asked.

"I'm fine!" Hans insisted.

"What happened?" Franz deadpanned.

Hans was quiet. "Just… an encounter…" Hans answered. Franz raised an eyebrow. That had been easier than he'd expected, to pry that information from his brother. Wow, something must have him _really_ freaked.

"Specify, please," Franz deadpanned.

Hans blinked then put down his fork. "The shadow. I don't think it's gone," he said.

The Duke choked on his food. Anna spat out the water she'd been drinking. Elsa, fork halfway to her mouth, froze, eyes widening. All eyes immediately went to Hans. "What do you mean?!" the Duke demanded.

"Did you see something?" Anna fearfully asked.

"Did it come to you?" Elsa questioned quickly.

"One at a time, please!" Hans insisted. "Yeah. I saw something freaky. I saw my shadow, and it didn't follow my movements. Not like it should have been."

"When you were fighting it… Do you think it hid in your shadow?" Anna asked uneasily.

"I have no idea," Hans answered.

"Well I would suggest you keep a close eye on that blasted shadow of yours, then!" the Duke freaked.

"I will," Hans assured.

"Humph. Thank goodness there are few shadows in my palace," the Duke said. The light was right that they wouldn't show up. At least not clearly, if at all. "This thing needs to be stopped. _Somehow_." And perhaps the book he had found… Perhaps it would show the way… He needed to study it more extensively. Now that he realized what the creature had been, and understood why the blankets draped over the windows had been drawn into the pages, he realized the book he'd found may very well be a guide. He would have to keep it safe and hidden, if that was the case. That way, if the shadow _was_ in his palace, it wouldn't realize they held the key to defeating it. It and all its kind. The Duke had a feeling there was more than one shadow like this one. Humph. What he'd read in the book implied the shadows were like changelings of the elfin and fairy folk, only… not. It was all very odd and unnerving.

"I think I need to rest," Hans said.

Concern came to Franz's eyes. "I'll walk you to your room," he said. Hans nodded and rose. Franz rose as well with his crutches. He needed to stay off of his leg, and frankly moving much was a bad idea for his ribs, but he didn't like feeling like an invalid, so there. He was moving however much he pleased... Within reason, that was. "Elsa, Anna, Duke, my apologies my brother and I are leaving breakfast so early, but as you can plainly see, the prince isn't feeling well," he said in as princely and official a manner as he could muster.

"Very well," the Duke said, dismissing them. Franz bowed, as did Hans, and walked with his sibling out.

Frozen

Franz watched his brother curiously and worriedly. Hans was behaving very oddly, he noted. "Is something wrong? Besides the shadow?" Franz asked.

"No. Why?" Hans asked.

"I don't know, you just… You don't seem yourself," Franz answered.

"I'm fine, Franz. Really," Hans reassured. That in itself was unnerving. It was just… odd. It didn't feel like the sibling banter or talks they usually had. If felt like he was talking to… He didn't know. A memory of his sibling more than the actual thing. Someone trying to be Hans and succeeding, just… not… Not to a brother, at least. He didn't like it. He watched the ground and really wished the Duke had lights in this place. He felt unsettled in a very not good way.

"You're worrying me, Hans. How bad, really, was this run-in with the shadow?" Franz asked.

"It wasn't that bad. It was just jarring," Hans answered.

"Okay," Franz relented, backing off. He wasn't getting anything from Hans, it seemed.

"Don't worry about me," Hans said. "I promise, I'm good. I've never been better." Franz was quiet.

 _This was not how Hans was supposed to act._

Gently he shivered and looked at his sibling subtly but warily.

 _This isn't your brother…_

Franz froze at the sudden thought, eyes widening in shock. Hans paused, turning. "Franz, are you okay?" Hans asked.

"I… I'm fine. Just on edge," Franz answered. "If this shadow is here… I just really don't want to cross it again. Least of all in the condition I'm in."

"No kidding," Hans replied, shrugging and continuing on. Franz watched after him, torn between worry, despair, hope, and anger all at once. Worry because if this was the shadow, Hans was missing. Despair because if this was the shadow, it meant his brother wasn't only missing, but had likely either been killed or would be. Hope because hey, maybe he was being paranoid and Hans was just lightening up and letting them in more. Anger because he knew he was lying to himself - the change was too sudden - and he wanted to attack this thing in front of him and demand answers vehemently before finishing it permanently… But then the hope always spoke. What if it was Hans after all?

"Where is my brother?" Franz whispered.

"What was that?" Hans questioned, looking back.

Franz was quiet, seriously considered repeating it, then determined it would be a fool's errand to face a shadow that now had Hans's skillset and likely a good deal of his wiles, while his leg was broken and his ribs were cracked. "Nothing. I was thinking out loud," Franz replied, shrugging. He had to warn the others. Hans raised an incredulous eyebrow but shrugged it off. "I'll be resting for probably a while. Make sure I'm not disturbed," Hans said.

"Of course, little brother," Franz replied, bowing slightly to Hans. With that he turned to leave. He had to warn the others.

Frozen

Hans entered his room and shut and locked the door. He smirked darkly to himself then looked into the full-length mirror not far. His image was reflected back to him before wavering and changing. In the mirror, now, was the image of the prince still, but now bound and gagged. His eyes, however, blazed like an inferno. He was pleased he hadn't blindfolded the young prince. He liked that look. "Your own brother doesn't recognize that I'm not you," the shadow said. For a moment the fire in the prince's eyes died, becoming a look of hurt, but quickly enough the fire came back and the shadow scowled, seeing the hints of a smirk in the captive's facial muscles. It infuriated him that the prince remained defiant. "What? You think he recognizes that I'm not you?" the shadow questioned. Hans chuckled through the gag and nodded, eyes victoriously glittering. Angrily the shadow made the gag vanish. "What makes you so sure?" he demanded of the prince.

"You really should have listened harder to that whispered remark of his," Hans answered.

The shadow in his image scowled. "Don't test my patience, prince. If this mirror breaks, you'll be at my mercy for eternity. No one will save you then. No one will be _able_ to. Or, if they do it will be a body recovery."

"You've made a big mistake," Hans darkly threatened. The shadow gag was immediately reapplied.

"Now see what I do to your beloved queen," the shadow purred. Hans scoffed. Beloved his foot. "There's already attraction, you know. It won't take much effort to bring her around." Hans's eyes narrowed dubiously. If this shadow really thought that, he had given it too much credit. "You don't believe me? You will. Once she's in this room, I won't need to play cordial anymore with her. Things can get rough, then. And bloody." Hans looked like he wanted to incinerate the shadow. The shadow chuckled then suddenly leapt into the mirror, appearing where Hans was bound. It was an evil place. The prince was tied to a stake, hands above his head, upon a rock towering over a bottomless pit. Surrounding him on every side were all manner of eerie creatures, circling like some sort of dark whirlpool. These creatures were shadows, of course. Dark ones, lost ones, etc.

The Shadow drew the prince's sword and drove it into Hans's stomach! Hans doubled over, crying out through the gag. The shadow withdrew it. There was, of course, blood, but not true blood. Not here. More symbolic. Nothing that happened here was technically real, though it certainly felt that way, but regardless... "Become my shadow, and your pain will not worsen," it said. Hans glared defiantly at him. "I can kill you, you know… Again, and again, and again," the shadow threatened. Hans made no sound and showed no fear. "No? Fine. Then you will die. Again, and again, and again."

Hans gritted his teeth. Suddenly the shadow spun and slashed his hands, fingers now like daggers, across the prince's throat, ripping it open. Hans gave a strangled and gurgling cry before convulsing and collapsing, though the bonds kept him from falling to the ground. The shadow watched in satisfaction, smirking as it saw the blood pour and spill. Of course the next time he returned the young man would be alive again, but all the better. In fact, if he waited a few minutes it should happen anyway. He waited. Soon the world shimmered, and suddenly Hans was up again, looking dazed and suddenly very uneasy. The shadow smirked. "I warned you," it said. This time he drove a blade into Hans's body, cutting him open slowly as if gutting a fish. Of course the fish was fortunate enough to be dead by _that_ time. The young prince would have no such respite. The shadow listened in a sick sort of pleasure as the young man screamed through the gag and writhed against his bonds for the agony of it… Until he didn't… Again dead eyes stared at nothing as the body sagged. Again in minutes he was alive. Again the shadow had at him, ripping him to pieces as Hans writhed and screamed and fought... but in the end died in slow agony.

Oh, the shadow could have hours of fun doing this. Unfortunately, if the young prince was right about Franz's seeing through the guise—which the shadow supposed really wouldn't be a shocker—he needed to stop the older prince from talking. Permanently. The shadow world shimmered and Hans was back again and his shredded body healed. The Shadow looked at the prince. "Would you like to see your brother die?" it asked. "Of course, Franz will not be fortunate enough to come back like you do." Hans visibly shuddered. Coming back was _fortunate_ , he dryly asked himself? He glared darkly and threateningly at the shadow whose mercy he was at. "He will suffer, you know… Horribly… You will watch his every agonizing last moment." He noted fear, now, flicker through the prince's eyes before disappearing. "Have you ever seen a child impale a frog?" it asked. Hans stiffened. "Well, the frog is your brother."

Immediately the prince tried to lunge despite the shadow bonds; but they held tight, and with a laugh the shadow vanished. Desperately, frantically, Hans writhed and squirmed against this imprisonment. He had to get free. He had to save his brother! Franz! Frantically he pulled against the restraints, desperate and feeling near panic. This couldn't be happening to him, it couldn't. Come on, come on. Will yourself free. There had to be some trick to this realm. Some trick he couldn't see! There had to be a way out. He had to save his sibling. He felt like giving up and sobbing, but there was no way in heaven or on earth that he would give this thing that satisfaction. Not yet.

 _Break free, break free…_

Frozen

Franz hobbled back towards the breakfast area as quickly as he could on crutches. "Franz!" a voice called urgently.

Franz stopped, turning. "Hans?" he asked. "What happened?"

"It's back! That thing is in my room!" Hans insisted, eyes wide in fear.

Seeing fear in his sibling's eyes kind of drove Franz to forget his earlier suspicions, as protective mode was entered. "Let's go. We need to finish this once and for all!" he said, turning back immediately. Hans moved swiftly at his side.

The two threw open the door to Hans's room and raced in, Franz with sword drawn. He looked sharply around the room, ready to attack anything that would come near his sibling… Before recalling his passed misgivings and stiffening, eyes slowly widening in realization. He was alone, far from any other people or guards, in a virtually soundproof room, with a brother who may not be a brother at all. Sh… He looked quickly towards Hans, who was in front of a mirror and looking directly into it. He felt a chill. Hans never looked into mirrors… Not if it wasn't necessity…

"Hans?" he asked cautiously.

"It's in the mirror," Hans answered hollowly. Franz stayed put, not moving. "The shadow is in the mirror," Hans repeated.

"That's called a reflection, little brother," Franz deadpanned, not moving to approach. You see, in this light where shadows abounded, suddenly he noticed Hans _had_ no shadow…

"It's in the mirror," Hans repeated again.

In his gut Franz knew it would be a bad idea to look… Yet part of him screamed he had to. He lifted his eyes to the mirror and looked into it. In front of his eyes the reflection began to warp. His lips slowly parted as within seconds a scene was revealed to him that he would never forget. He gave a choking gasp, knees nearly buckling before he got a grip and kept his balance. His baby brother, bound to a stake on a rock in a sea of dark shadows swirling around like a scene from hell.

"Oh my god!" Franz finally managed to gasp out as his brother turned to him and as his eyes widened in horror and fear and desperation, a look that screamed for him to run as fast and far as he can. A look that _begged_ him to. His brother tried to call something out through the gag, shaking his head frantically. "Hans!" Franz shouted. Suddenly the creature in the image of his brother seized a javelin from a weapons rack and spun, hurling it at the middle prince. Franz hardly even registered the pain, at first. He blinked. He actually felt the warmth of blood before he felt the agony of the strike. He staggered slightly, catching himself on the dresser with one hand, and looked down at the other that now held… that now held the javelin that had struck him… Numbly he looked up, shock and fear and worry in his eyes. He looked to the mirror and saw the look of horrified despair in his baby brother's eyes. The creature crossed the room and tore the javelin from his body. Franz cried out and began to slowly slip down the dresser.

The creature turned to the mirror, smirking cruelly at Hans, whose eyes were fixed on Franz, wide and terrified. "He isn't too far gone to be saved, young prince," the shadow said to Hans. Hans's eyes remained fixed on Franz, who slowly looked up at him in fear and pain. He had to save his sibling… He had… he had to… He groaned, leaning his head back and screwing his eyes shut.

 _You've failed._ _ **Again**_ _. You've failed…_

Frozen

Hans tried to scream his brother's name through the shadow gag. The still foreign feeling of tears burning his eyes made itself known as he saw Franz's body going limp. He willed them away. "I will let him be spared, Hans… If you do what I command…" Hans was silent. Franz's eyes weakly opened, falling on him painfully.

"No…" Franz whispered, shaking his head. "Don't," he pled of his baby brother.

Hans was quiet. Finally he looked at the shadow and nodded in the affirmative. The shadow smirked. "Agree to become my shadow," it said. "It won't be all bad. Your brother lives, your life continues, I stop the senseless killing, no one knows the difference. Like you were always there and never left. I'll be sure Franz doesn't remember this. Nothing has to change. Well, you won't be you anymore, but again, it isn't so bad." Hans was quiet. "Or… I take this javelin, and I impale your sibling like those frogs I was talking about. Right through his whole body. In through the bellybutton, out through the neck or mouth, whichever keeps him alive for longer." The shadow placed the javelin against Franz's abdomen to make a point.

Hans sobbed. He shook his head frantically. "No… No!" Franz pled of Hans. "Don't do it! Damn you, baby brother, don't you dare!"

As quickly as the despair had come, Hans hid it again. His eyes set determinedly as he looked at the shadow. Finally he nodded an agreement. "Good," the shadow said, approaching the mirror and reaching out towards it. Hans closed his eyes, preparing for whatever would come next. Franz, however, was having none of that.

The middle prince staggered up despite his injury and threw himself across the room, tackling the shadow to the ground. The shadow cried out in shock and pain. Franz scrapped viciously with him, delivering blow after blow without hesitation. The shadow threw the prince to the side, scowling, and moved swiftly for the mirror. Franz, looking over, paled. No. It wasn't happening. Not like this! He wouldn't see his little brother taken like this! The deal ended with… If Hans thought… That was it! Franz staggered up and ran for the window of his brother's room, throwing it open. The shadow spun to look, and Hans turned as well. His sibling's eyes widened in slowly mounting horror as Franz looked back at him then stepped up onto the ledge.

"What are you doing?" the Shadow immediately demanded.

Franz smiled softly, sadly, and looked at his brother, captive in the mirror. His smile fell to an apologetic look. "What becomes of your ultimatum, shadow, when there is nothing left for him to protect?" Franz asked. The Shadow's eyes widened. Hans blanched. Frantically his sibling began trying to scream something through the gag. Probably 'No!' probably 'Franz!' probably 'Don't!' probably 'Please!', or some mixture of them all. It didn't really matter, Franz supposed. At least, not at this point. Desperately Hans thrashed and fought and battled and pulled against the shadow bonds, trying to get free. Trying to stop him. Franz smiled and chuckled. "Forgive me, little brother," he said.

Frozen

Desperation filled the youngest prince's eyes. Hans tried to break free one more time as the shadow screeched in rage, lunging to grab Franz. The mirror cracked from side to side and shattered as this time desperation - love - won out. As Franz stepped back out of the window, Hans fell to the ground free, crying out his sibling's name and leaping after him frantically. The Shadow hardly knew what had hit it as the prince shot passed. Hans lunged for his brother, all but jumping out of the window _himself_ , and managed to catch his sibling's wrist. Franz, feeling the contact, looked quickly up. His eyes widened in fear and alarm. The only thing keeping Hans from falling to his death _with_ him was the fact his brother had caught the window frame. He clung to Franz for dear life, as if to let go would cost him his own. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to keep them both up.

"Hans, let me go! Watch the shadow!" Franz shouted. Hans was frankly beyond caring about the shadow. He was _not_ losing Franz. The shadow attacked, seizing Hans in a fury and pulling him back. Hans would not release his brother, though, and the force of the grab ended up dragging them both back into the room. Well, Hans into the room, Franz into a position where he could seize and cling to the windowsill with whatever strength still remained in him.

Hans and the shadow, in his form, fought viciously on the ground, rolling across it and delivering blows whenever they could. Hans looked sharply over to the window, noticing his brother slipping weakly, blood loss getting to him. With a war cry he kicked the shadow off of him and leapt for the window again, seizing his brother and pulling him inside. Quickly he turned to face any attack the shadow might deliver… only to find it was no longer there! His eyes widened. It wasn't there. He could have cheered! It wasn't there. He turned attention quickly back to the brother he held in his arms. "Franz?" he fearfully said.

Franz's eyes flickered open, falling on him. "Save the queen and princess. He's going after them," the middle prince whispered.

"I'm not leaving you!" Hans answered. The queen and princess could handle themselves.

"Hans…" Franz began.

"Shut up," Hans said through gritted teeth, closing his eyes tightly. This couldn't be happening to him. "Shut up," he repeated, looking at his sibling. Tears again were threatening his eyes, to his chagrin. He willed them frantically back. He wouldn't cry. Crying was a sign of weakness. Crying meant you suffered pain. "You're going to live. I'll make sure of it."

"Make sure _they_ live," Franz pled.

"I will. After you," Hans firmly stated, helping his sibling to his bed and laying him down in it. Quickly he bound the injury Franz had sustained. As if binding it would work. The man was bleeding heavily! Franz would need a damn good doctor… Which fortunately the Duke had. He looked at his sibling in the eyes. "Be alive when I return," he pled.

"I can't promise," Franz said.

"Try," Hans answered, squeezing his brother's hand then quickly rising to find the doctor. Franz's relatively young age should help him to fight and give him the strength to live longer. The javelin hadn't gone right through him, so that was _something_ of a respite. Oh he hated all of this. A psychotic shadow was after the Duke, Elsa, and Anna, but he couldn't go after it immediately because his brother was dying and needed to be tended, so he had to go and find the Duke's doctor, so the doctor could come up and keep his brother alive, whilst _he_ went after said psychotic shadow in the hopes of somehow still being in time to help Anna and Elsa. Just wow. You know what, fine. Another day in the life. He scoffed at that notion. Why did Franz have to be so accident prone? Please, please, please… Let his brother survive… And that shadow… _This_ time it was personal. His eyes blazed murderously.


	12. Choice

Choice

(A/N: One final chapter after this before the story comes to it's end. Little tidbit. Pharabou is the name of the Guardian of the Shadows in the Aladdin animated series. References to her are kind of a callback to that. As to the Duke, I have plans for him still, so hold on. Not entirely happy with this chapter, but the next one should be better.)

"I have been meaning to show you this since the incident at the tower," the Duke said as he walked towards the archives, Elsa and Anna in tow. "The explanation as to how I knew to blanket the windows. Perhaps the solution to the problem in the end as well."

"Is it a spell?" Anna asked.

"No. Though it does root in magic," the Duke disgustedly added. Anna and Elsa exchanged knowing smirks at the Duke's bitter complaint against whatever it was this thing was. Pushing open the door, the Duke let them to a far vault and began unlocking it. Soon enough he succeeded, slipped on gloves, then pulled a book out that looked as if it were a relic from the Middle Ages.

"Whoa that thing's old," Anna said.

"Old and valuable," the Duke said, using his gloves to gingerly turn the pages. He pointed out the drawing he had copied.

"Like you, Dear Duke," Elsa playfully teased.

The Duke started then looked a cross between flattered and insulted. "Young lady, I'll have you know I have life in me yet!" he protested. "But yes, I _am_ valuable." Anna and Elsa giggled. He looked insulted again then let it go. "As I was saying before I was interrupted…" he said loudly. The girls cleared their throats and stopped snickering. The Duke nodded in satisfaction then turned back to the book. "I began to read through it, after the incident at the tower. It spoke of a race of beings known as living shadows. Rather, anomalies. Things that shouldn't be but sometimes come to be. It spoke of the guardian of the shadow realm, Pharabou, and of her vigilant watch. As long as she is there, balance is kept. However, that is not to say some shadows who _shouldn't_ be released aren't. The living shadows are shadows of long dead humans, shadows of those who have had the misfortune of crossing the wrong sorts of spells, shadows born of strong imagination, or shadows summoned by sorcerers and magic wielders. I am of the opinion this shadow was born of strong imagination, given the sort of man whose shadow it was."

"Wow. That's kind of creepy," Anna said.

"Indeed," the Duke agreed, reading along in the book. "Some are dangerous, others harmless, others merciful. Albeit merciful in a cruel way."

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked. The Duke paused a moment, looking up. Soon he sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He turned to them. "Sometimes shadows can take on the forms of dead men or women or children or pets. They can become their doppelgangers, and live their lives without anyone being the wiser. Say for maybe those closest to them… Those who know something is wrong usually can't understand what it is, because either they never knew their loved one died long ago, or they are so happy to have them back that they shrug off or excuse the anomalies."

"Which means…" Anna began, eyes widening in realization.

The Duke moved to a window and looked out of it over his kingdom. "It means for all I know, I could very well be the ruler of a kingdom of living shadows and I'd never guess it. I must find answers. I _will_."

"How?" Anna asked.

"There is a spell, in the book, and as much as I am loathe to use magic for any such thing, this is an exception because it _must_ be," the Duke replied. "This spell will allow the one who recites it to see the shadows and the people who are no longer people, or to see the people with living shadows, or to see shadows trying to become living. I intend to use that spell, against my better judgement."

"Dear Duke, why?" Elsa asked.

"So I can be rid of them once and for all and cleanse Weselton of this blight," the Duke answered.

Frozen

Elsa was quiet, looking out at the people. "Would that really be for the best?" she finally asked.

"What do you mean? How could it _not_ be?" the Duke asked.

"For starters if you're ruling a few shadows, apparently not all of them are evil because bodies aren't piling up or anything, like with the shadow _we're_ dealing with," Anna said.

"As far as we know," the Duke pointed out. "And they belong in the shadow world anyway."

"If you extract all of them, perhaps your kingdom won't be a kingdom of shadows anymore, but it would quickly become a kingdom of mourning," Elsa said quietly. The Duke paused, looking curiously at her, a silent cue to explain. "You said they take on the forms of dead people, on occasion… What happens when those men and women and children see the truth of it and realize… realize their parents or spouses or siblings or children aren't there anymore, and haven't been for many years? What happens when a child realizes his father had been dead for many years? When a mother realizes her little daughter drowned in a river somewhere far away and she never knew so she could never bury her? When a woman realizes the man she loved truly did die at sea or in war when she had hoped so desperately the letter she had received was a lie? When a husband sees that his wife died long ago and had never come back after all? When a child realizes he or she is an orphan, and all the happiness and memories they had with their parents was never actually with them?"

The Duke was silent. "Then they will be able to let go and mourn," he finally answered.

"But they're happy _now_. Happy in their ignorance. They have their loved ones there to hold and care for and love," Elsa said.

"No… They don't… Their loved ones are gone, Elsa. All that remains are the false promises and illusions. They hold cheap knockoffs in their arms," the Duke replied.

"Knockoffs good enough to fool them into thinking they're the real thing," Anna pointed out.

"But copies nonetheless," the Duke answered. "If I were to do this, and I saw that one of you was a shadow and not the real thing after all, what would you feel?"

The sisters started, jolted by the words. They quickly looked at each other, uncertainty and worry in their eyes. "That-that isn't the same!" Anna blurted.

"How isn't it?" the Duke asked. Anna was quiet. Both Elsa and Anna knew he was right. They looked at one another again.

"I would want to know where my sister was," Elsa said.

"Assume you learn your sister is dead and that she died in childhood," the Duke said. "Then every memory you had ever since then was not a memory you shared with your sister. It was a memory shared with a copy."

Elsa was quiet. "It would hurt…" she finally replied. "Horribly… And feel like such a betrayal… But I would have come to love the shadow as if it _had_ been my sister."

"But it isn't," the Duke said.

"I couldn't lose her again," Elsa protested.

"As far as you'd remember, you would have only lost her once. The first time… it would not even be an issue because you could not remember it. Maybe there would be hollowness, maybe you'd have a good cry or two, but it would not be mourning like it should have been," the Duke said.

"Everyone is different," Anna pointed out.

"Would you rather have the copy or the real thing?" the Duke asked.

"The real thing," Anna answered quietly. She looked up at him. "But if I couldn't have the real thing, at _least_ I would still have the copy. The living memory. I could touch and speak to and laugh with my sister as if she was really there. A remembrance I can interact with. The grief would maybe still be present, but I could still have what was left… Wouldn't you have liked to never know your daughters were gone, Dear Duke?"

The Duke cringed, shifting. "I would have," he admitted. "But when and if I found out the truth of it…"

"You wouldn't be able to let the copies go either," Elsa finished for him, noticing him trail off.

The Duke was silent. "The final choice will belong to those whose loved ones are revealed to be the living shadows," he finally said.

Elsa and Anna nodded. At least it was fairer than eradicating the shadows from their midst without question. The Duke was right, though. Those people deserved to know the truth, even if it would hurt. They deserved to know so they could make the decision from there with the shadows at their sides. Shadows who _surely_ must think and feel… Maybe… This one they faced? It couldn't.

Frozen

The Duke looked back to the book and fingered the spell to see shadows. "Perhaps it can wait a little longer," he soon stated. Not too long. Just until he was ready to take on that burden of seeing how many of his people were truly dead and gone that he'd never known about. "For now our concern is the shadow in the tower." He flipped a few more pages in silence. "Ah. Here it is. The way to make them mortal." Elsa and Anna quickly joined him, reading over the spell curiously.

"Let's do it," Anna soon said, expression set determinedly. This thing needed to go.

"Elsa, Anna, Duke!" Hans's voice called. They turned and saw the young prince enter.

"Hans, there you are. Where's Franz?" Elsa questioned.

"I have no idea," Hans replied with a sigh. "Probably drinking. Doesn't matter anyway. What are you doing?"

"The Duke found a way to defeat the shadow permanently," Anna said.

Hans was silent, blinking. "What?" he asked after a moment.

"In his archives there was an old book. Like _really_ old," Anna answered. "It tells all about the shadows and about how to see them and about how to kill them should evil ones escape. It also talks about Pharabou and all sorts of interesting stuff, so now all we have to do is find this shadow. Then his reign of terror can end for good."

Hans was quiet. "You think you have it all figured out, don't you?" he remarked. Elsa smiled at him, nodding.

"Let us return to the throne room and discuss the next step," the Duke said. "Guards!" He waited a moment. Soon his two bodyguards entered. "My daughters will be avenged," he stated simply. Both men's eyes widened and they audibly gasped in relief. A look of grief but also hope crossed their features, and they suddenly seemed much more tired than they'd ever looked before. At the same time, though, it almost seemed as if the weight of about a thousand worlds had been lifted off of their shoulders with that statement.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Erik said in a slightly shaky voice, "What is your order to us?"

"Guard this book with your lives in my absence," the Duke answered. "Read it a bit and come to know what we're up against and how to stop it.

"Yes, my Lord Duke," Francis answered, bowing low to him. "Thank you." Quickly the two bodyguards went to the book and began pouring over it. The Duke beckoned for Elsa, Anna, and Hans to follow him. They did so, Hans lingering a moment longer to glare icily and dangerously at the bodyguards before following. He'd deal with them soon enough.

Frozen

Hans ran through the corridors as fast as he could, heart pounding a mile a minute. The doctor had taken one look at Franz and immediately moved to tend him, even pulling out some healing spells he knew from the old, old days—the man was older than the _Duke_ —but had kept under wraps for fear of his ruler's passionate hatred of anything magic related. Those spells had kept his brother alive. Here was hoping they _continued_ to. He had to find Elsa and Anna and warn them about his doppelganger before said doppelganger could catch them. He got a sinking feeling in his heart that he was already too late.

Frozen

"When we catch the shadow, I will recite the spell and he will be ours for the taking," the Duke stated to the three royals. "It's now a matter of baiting him out. This darkness cannot be allowed to continue anymore."

"I don't know. I find the darkness kind of intriguing," Hans remarked.

"Don't even, prince," Anna said, glaring at him.

"Don't even what?" Hans innocently asked.

"Don't even start thinking that way," she replied. "The last thing we need, now, is for you to start sympathizing with the shadow thing. That creature has killed eleven innocent people over the last decade. He needs to pay the price."

"It isn't as if those people had any purpose in life anyway," Hans replied.

"Excuse me?" Elsa asked in shock. Had he really just said that? Hadn't he just not even long ago expressed his pity for them? Especially for the learned man the Shadow had gotten killed.

The Duke spun on Hans, eyes narrowed and blazing. "What?" he dangerously asked. "Young man, if you speak of my daughters that way again…"

"The ones that got themselves pregnant by a couple of bodyguards?" Hans asked. "Oh wait, that was just the younger."

The Duke went at him, but Anna caught the man, holding him back. "My Dear Duke, he isn't worth it!" Anna said. Elsa, however, was suspiciously and cautiously eyeing Hans. Something seemed off here.

"I will have you hung, prince of the Southern Isles!" the Duke screamed at him furiously.

"Leave him to us! We'll deal with him," Anna assured the man, balling her fists and glaring at Hans. Angrily she marched towards him and stopped a little ways away. "Who do you think you are, Hans?! You have no right to speak about _anyone_ this way! How dare you? None of those people who were killed deserved to die! Who cares if they weren't destined for greatness? Everyone's great in their own way. They were definitely great in the eyes of their families and friends! That shadow, that _thing_ , took them away! He killed a pregnant _girl_! The child within her had done nothing wrong. What if it _had_ been destined for something great?"

"In this world, Anna, a bastard child is more likely to be ridiculed and spat upon," Hans sang.

"You worthless…" Anna began, stepping towards him. Suddenly, however, Hans drew a crossbow and took aim at her calmly, an icy smirk on his lips.

Frozen

Anna froze, gasping. "Anna!" Elsa exclaimed, moving to pull her sister out of the way.

"I wouldn't move if I were you, Elsa," Hans threatened. "Actually… On second thought move behind her. It'll be less trouble to end you both with one arrow."

Elsa and Anna looked at him in horrified disbelief. "Hans, what are you doing?" Elsa asked.

"Move!" Hans barked at her, looking over. Anna went to lunge at him in the moment of distraction.

Elsa paled. "Anna, no!" she screamed. Hans sharply turned and fired the arrow without even batting an eyelash "Anna!" Elsa cried out.

"Anna!" a voice echoed. The Duke's! Anna stopped with a gasp, frozen in shock as the arrow twanged then struck… But not her. She looked in horror at the one the arrow had wounded, numbed. It was the Duke of Weselton, an arrow protruding from his stomach. The man had made himself a meat shield!

Frozen

The Duke down at the injury as if trying to process what he'd done. The crossbow twanged again, the arrow piercing his chest. He cried out. "My Duke!" Anna finally found her voice to scream. The world felt as if it were in slow motion. The Duke, stunned, numbly looked up at Hans, eyes wide. He let out a shuddering breath as if trying to say something but unable to. A third arrow twanged, striking him just below the ribcage. He staggered and began to collapse.

"No!" Elsa screamed, racing to him and Anna quickly. The two sisters caught him and slowly lowered the man to the ground. "My Duke, look at us," Elsa pled. "Please!"

"Duke, Duke, don't do this. No. No, not for me. You didn't… you didn't do this, you couldn't… You shouldn't have done this!" Anna, still in shock, said frantically. She looked at the arrows. Her eyes widened and she gave a strangled and anguished cry. One glance, you see, told her the wounds he had sustained were mortal. The arrows had met their marks and struck fatally. Tears in her eyes and falling now, she looked at him, shaking her head. "You shouldn't have done this," she numbly repeated.

Elsa was covering her mouth, tears burning in her eyes. One slipped out. She didn't even bother trying to wipe it away. The man had just thrown himself in front of three arrows to save her sister's life… "My Lord Duke?" she finally found it in herself to say.

His eyes flickered open and fell on them. For a moment there was peace reflected in his gaze. "This time I could save them…" he muttered weakly. "I could save _you_ …" Elsa and Anna felt their hearts drop into their stomachs.

"They aren't saved yet," Hans darkly said. The sisters gasped, turning.

"Traitor!" Anna shrieked in rage.

"Anna, Elsa!" Hans's voice called from… Somewhere else? What? Sharply the sisters turned. The Duke too looked over. Their eyes widened. From another doorway ran the prince!

Frozen

Hans slid to stop, taking one look at the scene and cluing into what happened. His eyes widened in shock and disbelief as he registered the Duke was dying, and registered what had shot him. Hans looked numbly over at the shadow in his form. It was scowling at him murderously. The look in its eyes, though, didn't even stand in the same _league_ as the look Hans gave it on piecing together all that was going on. The prince's eyes crackled like an inferno once more, and _this_ time he wasn't restrained. Without even a word he drew his sword, swung it in a circle in the air, and approached the shadow at a quick pace, resolved in his course. The shadow scowled and shot at him. Swiftly he dodged out of the way and pulled a shield from off of a suit of armor. He continued his advance. The shadow's eyes widened and it shot again. Hans deflected the arrow nimbly and broke into a run. The shadow started and gasped. It threw aside the crossbow and immediately pulled its own sword. It seemed hand-to-hand was the only option now.

Within two seconds Hans had closed the distance between himself and his shadow, immediately clashing with it in a war of blades. Anna, Elsa, and the Duke watched in shock and horror as the two danced around each other so fast it was actually hard to keep track of which Hans was the real one. Especially after the real one dropped the shield. One of the Hans's threw the other up against a wall and attempted to run him through. The other, though, dodged the blow and slashed at the first, who leapt back in alarm then tackled the second one down. Viciously the two tumbled on the floor, biting, clawing, stabbing, kicking, basically whatever it took to one up the other.

"You stupid son of a whore!" one of the Hans's shouted. "Die!"

"Bastard, you won't succeed!" the second retaliated, drawing a knife and aiming for the other's side. It struck. The other cried out in pain but got revenge by slashing the second one right across the face.

Frozen

Elsa turned to the dying Duke, pain in her eyes. "Stay alive. Please," she begged him.

"Don't…" the Duke choked, sensing what she was going to do and tightly holding her hand to keep her away from it.

"I'm sorry," she said. She bent, softly kissing the man's forehead as a daughter would kiss her father, then pulled free of him and rose, calling forth her powers and approaching the two battling princes, eyes as cold and piercing as a winter's storm, glittering like ice. Immediately she sent out an ice wall to divide the two Hans's. Both leapt back from the other and turned to her sharply, eyes reflecting outrage and annoyance at the interruption. They cried out in pain and alarm as the next attack slammed them both back against a wall painfully before letting them drop. They staggered up, looking shocked.

"Elsa, what are you…?" one began. He was silenced by an icicle suddenly at his throat.

"Whoa!" the second exclaimed. He gasped as another ended up at his. Both of them had their hands up, looking uneasily at the ice. Finally they turned their gazes to her. "So what? You're going to kill us both and hope for the best?" the second Hans scoffed. "Shadows can't die, Elsa. You'll only end up killing the real one."

"Elsa, enough," the first said. "Not like this. There's a way you can figure out the truth of the matter. A less _extreme_ way."

"I'm through with words," Elsa hissed.

"No you aren't," the first said. "Elsa, listen to me! This shadow nearly killed my brother! It trapped _me_ in a mirror in some portal to a shadow realm. That thing killed me three times! That shadow realm, whatever it is? It's not natural! It tried to torture me and force me to become its shadow!"

"Torture? As if torture would have worked. You nearly killed my brother!" the second snapped.

"What do you think I meant by 'torture'?!" the first demanded sharply.

"I don't believe this," the second said. The two Hans's looked at Elsa again, this time nervousness obvious in them both. "Elsa, listen to me. He's lying to you."

"When _don't_ I lie," the first demanded. "But this time it's the truth. Elsa, please. I'm telling the truth."

"That isn't true!" the second insisted. "Elsa…" he began. Both trailed off on seeing her torn look and her confusion. "You can't kill us both."

"The true shadow will live while the other will die. It gains you nothing and loses you everything!" the first agreed.

"What everything? It loses her a prince that should have died long ago!" Anna shouted from her place at the Duke's side. She turned fearfully back to the old man. "Don't go. Please. Please, don't go… We don't want to lose you too."

Suddenly furious words spoken in another language were recited, and all heads turned in that direction. Their eyes widened. There, in the throne room, were the Duke's bodyguards, Francis of which had recited the words. "Wh-what have you done?" the Duke asked them.

"Now it's a fifty-fifty shot in the dark," Erik answered. "The shadow is mortal. End this, Snow Queen of Arendelle. End it finally."

"You sons of…" both Hans's began.

"Quiet!" Elsa ordered them both. They fell silent, turning to her. Now there was alarm and fear.

"Choose now, Elsa… One of us or both of us," they said in unison. Elsa felt her heart pounding in her chest as fear filled her eyes. She didn't want to choose. She didn't want to be wrong. She didn't want to lose… Her eyes slowly widened. She didn't want to lose the prince…

(A/N: Feel free to guess in reviews which Hans you think is the real one.)


	13. Letting Go

Letting Go

(A/N: Last chapter of the story. This chapter has one of the most emotional scenes in this whole series, thus far, albeit short. Threw a lot into it, or tried. This story actually turned out better than I thought it would. Seems they're doing that a lot lately. I added a lot into it I hadn't originally intended to add but now am really glad I did. As usual, final A/N at the bottom. Thank you for all the reviews and support you've offered me throughout the process. Enjoy.)

Elsa looked from one Hans to the other fearfully.

 _Make your choice._

She couldn't. She didn't want to.

 _You must._

She felt herself quivering. "Tell me something. _Anything_. Anything to help me know it's really you," she pled to them. "Give me a sign I can't mistake… Please… Hans, give me a sign... Because if you don't, I will have no choice but to kill you both." The two Hans's were silent. On the inside, though, only one of them was raging.

"You stick to your strengths," one finally said. "You are not a monster, Elsa… And I've never been afraid of you or your powers. I never _will_ be. If I die, I die."

Elsa's eyes widened hopefully. _You stick to your strengths_. Immediately she turned to the second and pushed her powers forward more.

"What?!" the second Hans snapped at the first. He gasped on feeling the ice spike digging into his neck. He looked at Elsa fearfully and blinked. After a moment, he chuckled darkly and dryly, relaxing and closing his eyes. His bitter smirk fell and he turned to the other Hans. "Well played…" he coldly said.

 _But you were wrong about me._

He turned to Elsa, eyes calm but cold. Then they began to soften. "Once upon a time I would have let you into my war," he murmured to her. "Use your gift now, as you see fit."

Elsa's eyes widened and she caught her breath. _Once upon a time I would have let you into my war. Once upon a time._

Immediately a cage sprang up around the first Hans, spikes shooting at him from all angles so that to even move would mean pain or death. She let out a shaky breath, straightening up, and looked at the second quietly. Hans breathed a sigh as the spike came away from his throat. He looked at her, nodding. Elsa nodded back and looked at the first. "What? What are you...?" the first began.

"You referred to my ability as powers," she remarked to the first. "But _he_ doesn't." She turned, looking at the second. "Once upon a time he called them a gift..."

Hans grinned almost affectionately at her, then looked at the captured counterpart. "You told me I only ever let others see the superficial, even my own brothers… You were wrong. I let _her_ see deeper. She was allowed to see so much more."

Immediately shock turned to rage, and the shadow sharply looked over at Hans. "You little worm," he said.

"Don't be surprised," Hans said. "After all, you're only a shadow. A carbon copy."

"Besides, you weren't entirely in character for him either," Elsa added. "In a life or death situation, Hans tends to get more defiant than reasoning. At least if it's his own life on the line." She turned to the prince and added, "Which is a self-destructive behavior you _really_ need to work on, by the way."

"Get off my case," Hans said frowning at her.

Frozen

"Elsa!" Anna suddenly cried out in a breaking voice. Elsa gasped and turned. Her eyes filled with fear and concern. The Duke! Quickly she ran back to his side.

Hans, for his part, watched after her then looked to the bodyguards who were glaring murderously at the imprisoned shadow. "There may be a banishing spell somewhere in the book," he said. Which would have been _far_ more useful to have recited than the one that turned it mortal, but he supposed that in a volatile situation you went with whatever solution you had at your fingertips at the time, and didn't stop to think there might be a better one. "You'll know for sure, then, that it was the real shadow you got. It may not be the justice your loved ones deserve, but at least then you'll be sure you didn't kill an innocent man. The fifth victim was tricked and had the man she loved executed because of it. You don't want that added guilt on your heads." And frankly, he needed the reassurance _himself_.

The guards were silent, suddenly looking exhausted. Soon Erik turned to him. "We just want this to end," he said. "We're through caring how." He doubted killing it would keep it dead anyway. He took the book from his friend and opened it, looking through. Soon he found the banishment spell and began to recite from it. Soon enough the shadow gave a scream of anguish as the mortal form it had taken melted away, leaving only shadow. It screeched again as the book sucked it into its pages. It screeched in rage until finally it was gone. Erik closed the book with finality and threw it to the side in disgust. They and the prince then turned to watch Anna, Elsa, and the Duke solemnly and gravely.

Frozen

Elsa fell at the Duke's side with her crying sister. The man was drawing his last breaths, it was plain to see. "Hold on. Please," Elsa begged, placing her hand over the Duke's injury and freezing it slowly in hopes of stopping the blood flow long enough to buy him time. "Hans, get the doctor!" she pled. Hans wasn't sure it would work at this point, but then the man _did_ know healing magic. It was their only shot, with Mael not here. He bowed his head and turned to run and fetch the man from Franz's side. Elsa looked to the Duke again. "Don't," she pled. Anna sobbed, kissing the man's hand and holding it tightly and reassuringly.

"Now, now, dears, it's alright," the Duke said. "I've come to terms with it." He wasn't impressed by it, but he'd come to terms with it, at least. "I died ensuring you would live. _Hoping_ that my sacrifice ensured you would live, that is."

"It did, sir. It did," Anna replied, forcing a broken smile. "Thank you."

"I die in peace, my dear girls. There is no need for you to feel this way over my demise," he said.

"Yes there is. Because we have come to care _so_ much," Elsa answered, holding his other hand. "More than we thought we ever would."

"That, then, is something at least…" the Duke replied. "Thank you… For giving me back my daughters…" They sobbed, nodding their heads and closing their eyes tightly. They felt him go limp and opened their eyes miserably. Just then Hans raced back with the doctor. The doctor hurried to the Duke's side and began frantically trying to revive him. The man, though, wouldn't awaken.

"Keep trying," Hans ordered, though his voice sounded distant in Anna and Elsa's ears. "Weselton can't afford a power vacuum now. Not in the wake of this!"

"I cannot bring him back," the doctor protested, his voice also sounding distant.

"Try harder!" Hans commanded. Anna and Elsa were hugging each other tightly, watching in both despair and some last remnant of hope that maybe something would come of it… But the longer the doctor tried to bring the Duke back, the more that hope fell. Hans was silent, now.

Frozen

"Daddy?" a voice asked. The Duke opened his eyes and looked around. What now? "Daddy," the voice said again. He turned sharply and stiffened. Slowly his eyes widened. They were there… His daughters were there… He gave a strangled sound, falling to his knees. They were there. In front of him. After all of these years. His beautiful babies... They came to him and knelt, hugging him tightly. He broke down into tears in the arms of his lost children. "It was a girl, daddy. The baby was a girl. She was beautiful, like mother was," his youngest's soft voice said. "Look at her."

The Duke shakily looked up and saw an infant resting on some blankets, eying him curiously as it sucked its thumb. He reached out shakily, lightly drawing a finger over its cheek. It gurgled, smiling, and he sobbed again, smiling back. "Hello, little one... I am your grandfather..." he whispered to it. It giggled softly.

"Daddy, please, don't come now. You have to stay strong. Just a while longer. You have to stay strong because even though we're not there anymore, there are two who still are. Elsa and Anna need you, papa. They need you so much more… You know, Valhalla really isn't so bad or scary, anymore. It's good here," the older daughter said, voice breaking. "The rulers of this land are kind and gentle, when they choose to be. Papa, please… go back… You'll join us soon enough, but right now there are two young women above, weeping for you and begging you to return. They're growing to love you, daddy. Love you just like we did. Don't let them lose a father again."

"I can't! I can't go back," the Duke sobbed. "Not again. Not after this! Don't you see? I'm not strong enough. My darlings, I won't leave! I won't see you taken from me a second time! I need to hold you in my arms again. I need to be with you. My babies, my little girls, don't let me go back!"

"Please," the younger girl begged, voice breaking. "You need to bring back a message for us. To Francis and Erik. You need to tell them we're waiting for them. We still love them. You need to tell Francis about his baby girl and how wonderful she is, and tell them that if either of them try to come see us sooner than their time, they'll be in trouble like they've never known." The Duke laughed brokenly before it dissolved into sobbing.

"Go back, daddy… We love you," the older said. "We won't let you come to us yet."

 _Come back, Dear Duke. Please! Please come back! Hear us!_

Anna and Elsa's voices, he registered. He closed his eyes tightly, weeping and clinging onto his daughters tightly. He didn't want to go… And yet part of him did… "We love you, daddy," his children repeated again in faint whispers, kissing him softly as he felt them disappearing from his arms. This time, though… This time he let them go…

Frozen

The doctor had stopped trying to revive him now. "One more time!" Hans ordered. "Once more!"

"There is nothing more to do," the doctor answered. Just then there was a movement. The doctor looked sharply down in shock. What now? His eyes widened. Immediately he began to try and revive the Duke again. This time the Duke began coughing and gasping for air.

"Dear Duke!" Anna exclaimed in alarm and hope, immediately diving to his side with Elsa and hugging him tightly, crying. It took them a moment to realize he was holding them just as tight and weeping as well.

"Dear Duke, what's wrong?" Elsa asked, drawing back.

"I saw my daughters," he answered. His bodyguards immediately stiffened, misery crossing their expressions. Elsa, pity in her eyes, nodded and went back to hugging the old man. The Duke looked to the two bodyguards and the prince. "They're waiting for you two… They still love you," he said to his men. The bigger one, Erik's, jaw twitched. Tears began to silently slip down his cheeks, though he stood dignified. The Duke smiled pityingly. "They said that if either of you tries to join them before your time, you'll be in big trouble." Erik gritted his teeth, bowing his head and clutching his shirt. This time a whimpering sob escaped. The younger, Francis, seemed numbed. The Duke looked to him. "It was a girl," he said to the man. "She is wonderful. So much like my youngest was, and her mother before her." There was no holding Francis back anymore. He gave an anguished scream on hearing this and collapsed to the ground sobbing in misery, his arms wrapped around his body as he rocked back and forth, weeping without restraint.

Hans watched the two men silently. Love made you weak, he said to himself again. It made… it made you weak… It had to! It didn't, this wasn't… He drew a shuddering breath and looked quickly away from the two men. He didn't want to watch a grieving father mourning a child he'd never known or seen. He _couldn't_ watch. He didn't want to see the anguish in the eyes of men grieving their beloved ones. Quickly he turned and marched swiftly out of the throne room. If he stayed any longer, he feared he might give into his emotions and how badly he realized he wanted to cry, suddenly. Elsa watched silently after the prince, then turned attention to the Duke again, holding him tightly.

Two Days Later

"Thank you, your majesty's," Erik solemnly said as he, Francis, and the Duke stood to bid the two Arendelle royals, and the two princes, goodbye.

"You have given us reason again," Francis added.

"And me purpose and peace…" the Duke murmured, looking up at the ships. "Weselton will withdraw from the war."

"In return the Southern Isles and their alliance will protect your shores from any revenge Scotland and Norway may try to take," Franz, who had more or less recovered, though he was still very weak and couldn't risk moving much, stated. Given he was the eldest prince here, this duty of political relations and playing the reigning heir fell on him before Hans, so it was business mode time. "Trade relations between our lands will continue as agreed?"

"They will. Between Weselton and Arendelle as well," the Duke confirmed, nodding.

"It will do all of our economies good," Elsa stated, nodding. "It's been an adventure, Dear Duke. Unlike anything we've had for some time, in fact."

"Apologies the whole thing started out so messy," the Duke said.

"It's alright. Nothing but good came from it. As much as I hate to admit it, that's thanks to Hans," Anna said.

"It spares us a headache in this war," Hans said. "Which we're going to have to return to promptly the moment we report back to Moren."

"Some rest," Franz dryly said. "Norway and Scotland both will double their efforts in the wake of this, Hans. You need to be especially careful on the sea from this point on. _Anywhere_ , in fact. Always stay wary for potential assassins. Like Moren said, in war monarchs have bad habits of being toppled or killed."

"I know," Hans replied. "You all be wary as well, Elsa, Anna, Duke. You may be neutral now, but that doesn't mean our enemies will take kindly to that." The Duke had more to worry about than Anna and Elsa did, of course, but still.

"Extra precautions will be taken," the Duke assured.

"The same will be done in Arendelle," Elsa answered.

"It would be a wise precaution to take Moren's advice and start considering a political marriage too," Franz said to Elsa.

"This again?" she replied with an annoyed sigh.

"I'm not pressing you into anything. I'm just saying if things get worse or really rough, it might be a serious course of action you need to consider," Franz warned. Calcas was off the hook, now that Weselton was withdrawing. Connyn and Coth not so much. They would still need to scout for potential matches in Scotland and Norway.

Elsa cringed and looked down. She knew he was right. It didn't mean she was happy about it. She wasn't too concerned, though. As a neutral land, she didn't need to worry about curtailing a war. It wasn't her duty. True, her marrying into Norway would get them out of the Southern Isles' hair, but their fight wasn't hers to fix. On the other hand, she was almost tempted to consider it. Her marrying into the Southern Isles would still curb Norway, and frankly she'd much rather marry into the princes of the Isles than any royal of Norway, because at least she knew the Westergaard brothers. She couldn't say she hadn't been tempted to before. She liked them, and she knew there were a good few potentials open among them, one of which was very interested in her and another of which she had to admit she was intrigued by. The downside of that was it would mean becoming the sister-in-law of Hans Westergaard, but would that really be so bad? She found it was less and less unappealing to be close to him as time went on and she got to see more of the prince than he'd ever let anyone else see. She would keep it in mind, but it wasn't her priority. She didn't need marriage. She had more important things to deal with, at the moment.

"I'll keep it in mind for future reference," she answered. Turning to Hans, she said, "Be careful on the sea."

"I will," he answered.

"Then may your voyage home be a safe one," she replied.

"And yours as well," Hans answered, bowing his head to her.

She bowed her head back then smiled at the Duke. Elsa and Anna hugged him briefly. "Goodbye, Dear Duke. This is the beginning of many good things," Elsa said.

"Keep your ears open for suitors for my sister," Anna teased.

"Anna!" Elsa said. Hans's jaw twitched slightly on hearing this 'suitors' business, and he frowned. Of course Franz had literally just mentioned as much already, and Moren had mentioned it not even long ago. He'd just never actually seriously considered putting the word 'suitors' to those discussions. Hearing it spoken out loud made it sound official. Men would be vying for Elsa's hand, Elsa would pick one of them to make her prince consort. Of course she might not. Elsa wasn't big on the idea of marrying just yet anyway. Even if she was, what did _he_ care what she did with the young men who would scramble for her?

"Farewell, Duke of Weselton, Queen Elsa, Princess Anna," Hans said, bowing to them. He turned, boarding his ship. Franz followed closely after bowing to them as well. Elsa and Anna smiled at the Duke once more, curtsied to his guards—who were taken aback that royalty had curtsied to the likes of _them_ —then boarded their own vessel to sail for home.

The Duke smiled softly after their ships. "You both have given us hope, my lady Queen and lady princess," he muttered after them. "Come now Erik, Francis. We have business to attend to. With that he turned, walking back towards the carriage. His bodyguards followed, smirking.

* * *

(Final A/N: Thank you again, for the reviews and support. Only so many times I can say that same thing, but I'm still grateful nonetheless. Fair warning, it may be a good long time before the next one goes up, and this time I mean it. Unless I get on a writing roll, it won't be ready for a while. I've only just started on the second chapter and there's a lot to fit into it, plus I have schooling to go and a bunch more stories in the workings, but we'll see. Frozen is my priority, currently, so it's the one getting the most attention from me right now. It's about at this point in the series that Frozen 2 could fit in as well, but again, depends on what that movie is all about. Tiny spoiler about the next story in this series. It will have suitors in it. Many, many suitors. And things will really start to develop at that point. Probably happens a few months after this one, and at that point Hans will have recently turned 24. His character will have developed a good bit to, or will be in the process of developing. Thank you again, and hope you enjoyed.)


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